Princess Diana Memorial Fund Launches $7.2 Million Initiative to Help Africans Dying of HIV/AIDS
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund begins a $7.2 million initiative today to "ease the suffering" of Africans in the final stages of HIV/AIDS and cancer, the AP/Tampa Tribune reports (AP/Tampa Tribune, 8/28). Fund grants will be distributed over five years for hospice programs and training and education programs for policy makers, medical staff and caregivers. Fund Chair Christopher Spence said, "For millions of people in this region, the approach of death is characterized by appalling pain, deprivation and neglect. The fund's Palliative Care Initiative is essentially a challenge to health policy makers, donors, practitioners and others who care about the issue -- to recognize that people who are dying are human and that the close of life should bring dignity and not diminish their humanity" (Associated Press, 8/28). In addition to pain relief, the initiative will fund bereavement projects aimed at helping families cope with the imminent deaths of relatives, especially children orphaned by AIDS. One project will encourage South African children to make memory boxes -- aluminum containers that children paint and then discuss with their dying parents what "reminders of their parents' love" to put into the boxes (London Daily Telegraph, 8/28). The launch of the initiative marks the fourth anniversary of Diana's death and the establishment of the fund. The fund, which receives donations and profits from the sale of approved memorabilia, has pledged more than $64.9 million to charities thus far this year (Associated Press, 8/28).
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