INDIANAPOLIS—The Ruth Lilly Philanthropic Foundation has awarded $7 million to strengthen program development and establish two endowed chairs at the Indiana University Center for Global Health for its AMPATH initiative in Kenya. The purpose of the gift is to address health care disparities and advance global health research, education, and health care delivery to underserved populations.
AMPATH (Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare) is the cornerstone of the IU Center for Global Health. AMPATH was created in 2001 in response to the HIV crisis in western Kenya. It is built on a partnership between Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and the Moi University School of Medicine in Eldoret, Kenya, and a consortium of North American academic health centers led by Indiana University School of Medicine. Working with the Kenyan Ministry of Health, AMPATH aims to address the challenges of access to health care in resource-limited communities. Serving a population of 4 million people in western Kenya, AMPATH aspires to restore patients’ lives, not just their health.
The director of the IU Center for Global Health, Robert Einterz, M.D., said the Ruth Lilly Philanthropic Foundation’s continuous support demonstrates their belief in AMPATH’s mission to strengthen sustainable health care services in Kenya where access to health care is a daily challenge.
“This new commitment will help us to better serve Kenyan families and continue to expand our initiatives to address the critical needs for primary health care, chronic disease care, and specialty care for the entire population, leaving no one behind,” he said.
The Ruth Lilly Philanthropic Foundation has been a long-time supporter of the AMPATH program, including the donation of $4 million in 2013 to help construct the four-story state-of-the-art Chandaria Cancer and Chronic Diseases Centre on the campus of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret. The center will be a hub for training, research, and chronic disease care and is the largest public facility of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa. Space for training and telemedicine is still being developed; however, last year the doors opened for patient care and research.
About AMPATH
Since 1989, Indiana University School of Medicine and Moi University School of Medicine and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, have worked together to deliver health services, conduct health research, and develop leaders in health care for both North America and Africa. From this partnership, AMPATH was formed in 2001 creating one of Africa’s largest, most comprehensive and effective HIV/AIDS management and treatment models. AMPATH is a formal partner with the United States government through a $75 million grant from USAID and has continually transitioned its successful HIV approach into a more comprehensive primary health care system. Since, other North American academic health centers joined the AMPATH consortium. Those universities include Brown University, Duke University, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Providence Portland Medical Center, Purdue University, University of California-San Francisco, University of Massachusetts, University of Notre Dame, and University of Toronto.