School children listen to the address by The Right Honorable the Prime Minister Mr. Pakalitha Bethuel Mosisili during the Sod Turning Ceremony for the expansion of the Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Satellite Center of Excellence, Monday, April 28, 2008, in Butha-Buthe. (Photo by Smiley N. Pool)
The Lesotho Children's Clinical Center of Excellence at night. This site is within 2 km of Lesotho's only adult HIV/AIDS treatment center and the National Nurse Training Center. The government has plans to build a national referral hospital just across the road from the children's center.
Shown at the official opening of the Baylor-Bristol-Myers Squibb Children s Clinical Center of Excellence Lestho are, from left, King Letsie III of Lesotho, Peter Dolan, CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dr. Peter G. Traber, president and CEO of Baylor College of Medicine, and Dr. Mark Kline, director of the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative.
Program Update: May 1, 2008: Through BIPAI's partnership with the government of Lesotho, construction has begun on the first of ten satellite clinics in remote areas of the country. The satellite clinics will reinforce the work of BIPAI's state-of-the-art center of excellence in the capital of Maseru. Prime Minister Pakalitha Bethuel Mosisili and members of his Cabinet joined 3,000 people for the ground breaking event in Butha-Buthe. This ground breaking event was symbolic of the start of construction on all ten satellite clinics. Read more
Baylor's recommendation to the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation to fund construction of centers in Mbabane, Swaziland and Maseru, Lesotho was accepted, and formal groundbreaking ceremonies were held at the sites in late October. Bristol-Myers Squibb has committed $4 million to construction of the two centers, which will be completed and opened by December 1, 2005.
It is anticipated that the centers in Swaziland and Lesotho will utilize the same 14,000 square foot footprint as that of the Botswana-Baylor Children's Clinical Center of Excellence, with minor changes to interior finishes and facade. The children's centers in Swaziland and Lesotho will be built and operated in partnership between Baylor and the respective governments. Both governments plan to commit substantial resources to the operation of the centers. Baylor will provide assistance with staffing and training in support of local capacity development.
Both governments have requested Baylor's support for the scale up of pediatric HIV/AIDS care and treatment even in advance of opening the new Children's Clinical Centers of Excellence. Baylor has been asked by the Ministry of Health in Lesotho to assist in scaling up pediatric HIV/AIDS care and treatment, both at local and national levels.
