{"id":3100,"date":"2019-06-12T11:41:18","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T11:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reachoutmbuya.org\/?p=3100"},"modified":"2019-06-12T13:42:04","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T13:42:04","slug":"former-u-s-ambassador-jimmy-kolker-graces-reach-out-mbuya-pepfar-15-celebrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reachoutmbuya.org\/?p=3100","title":{"rendered":"Former U.S Ambassador, Jimmy Kolker Graces Reach Out Mbuya PEPFAR @ 15 Celebrations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Friday January 25th, 2019, Reach Out Mbuya\nParish HIV\/AIDS Initiative (ROM) hosted the Former U.S Ambassador to Uganda,\nJimmy Kolker on a visit to the facility to get a first-hand account of the work\ndone by the organization over the past 15 years since the U.S President\u2019s\nEmergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) program was introduced in the country\nthat saw a Reach Out Mbuya Client being the first beneficiary of the lifesaving\nanti-retroviral drugs (ARVs).
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Amb. Jimmy Kolker joins the Reach Out team in cutting the celebratory cake<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Chairman Board of Directors ROM, Fr. John\nMungereza, Co-Founder (ROM), Dr. Margrethe Juncker, the Executive Director\n(ROM), Josephine N. Kaleebi were among the dignitaries present to welcome him.
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chairman Board of Directors of ROM, Fr.\nJohn Mungereza applauded the work done by the U.S Government in its efforts to\nfight HIV\/AIDS in the country; \u201cif these good people were not there, humanity\nwould perish,\u201d he remarked, urging continued support for those infected and\naffected by HIV\/AIDS.
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Margrethe Juncker celebrated the success\nof the PEPFAR program that changed the lives of the patients who before PEPFAR\nhad no hope to live;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore March 2004, we could only offer\ntreatment for opportunistic infections which was not enough, the end result of\nHIV\/AIDS was always sure \u2013 suffering, death, families losing their loved ones,\nand children being orphaned. However, in March 2004, help and hope for the\ninfected presented itself in the form of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) donated\nthrough the PEPFAR initiative and the results were visible every passing day\nthat the patients adhered to their drugs. Many that started the treatment with\nCD4 count less than 10 gradually improved and there was hope again for the\nfuture.  Fifteen years on, many are still alive to tell their stories.\u201d\nshe rejoiced.
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaker after speaker commended the generous\nlifesaving gesture of the US government. The Executive Director Josephine\nKaleebi promised that since positive living has been made possible, ROM is to\nembark on positive thinking for behavioral change and breaking up of poverty\ncycles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Reach Out Members of the Board pose for a group picture with Amb. Jimmy Kolker<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ambassador Jimmy Kolker commended Uganda for\nthe work done in fighting the spread of HIV\/AIDS despite the situation of the\npatients at the initial days of intervention. \u201cWe did not know what the\nresponse to the drugs would be but it turned out that people were better at\nadherence and more ready for those drugs than anyone in the United States was\u201d,\nhe stated.
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Present at the function were; Dr. Andrew\nKambugu, the Executive Director Infectious Disease Institute (IDI), Dr. Alice\nNamale, the In-charge Care and Treatment at the Centre for Disease Control\n(CDC), the Board of Directors ROM, Staff, ROM clients, well-wishers and other\ninvited guests.
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, ROM has supported 14, 389 clients on\nARVs donated through PEPFAR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday January 25th, 2019, Reach Out Mbuya Parish HIV\/AIDS Initiative (ROM) hosted the Former U.S Ambassador to Uganda, Jimmy Kolker on a visit to the facility to get a first-hand account of the work done by the organization over the past 15 years since the U.S President\u2019s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) program […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reachoutmbuya.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reachoutmbuya.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reachoutmbuya.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reachoutmbuya.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reachoutmbuya.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.reachoutmbuya.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reachoutmbuya.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reachoutmbuya.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reachoutmbuya.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reachoutmbuya.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}