University of Miami To Use $2.5 Million Grant To Establish Pediatric Infectious Disease and International Health Initiative
Officials at the University of Miami Department of Pediatrics on Friday announced that they will use a $2.5 million grant from the Green Family Foundation to support education, research and treatment of HIV and other infectious diseases for children in Florida and Haiti, the Miami Herald reports. The foundation -- which was established by Steven Green, former U.S. ambassador to Singapore and former CEO of Samsonite Corporation, and his wife -- donated the money for the establishment of the Green Family Foundation Initiative in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology and International Health. The University of Miami, which currently operates the nation's "largest single-site pediatric AIDS program," treats more than 300 HIV-positive children a year (Brecher, Miami Herald, 2/8). The university will also use the grant to administer a training program for medical workers in Haiti, which has the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the Caribbean. The project will be administered in conjunction with Project Medishare, a not-for-profit group (Baro Diaz, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 2/8). The foundation will train physicians, employ 60 healthcare workers to aid rural areas and deliver services and supplies (Orlando Sentinel, 2/8). While the university will first concentrate its efforts on Florida and Haiti, they plan to eventually expand into other countries and focus on other infectious diseases (Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 2/8).
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