A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the DREAM Program of the Community of Sant’Egidio and the Good Sheperd Mission Hospital, diocesan hospital of Siteki, capital of the Lubombo district in Swaziland. The Good Sheperd Mission Hospital is the country’s reference centre for Tuberculosis, but has been struggling for a while now against Africa’s largest HIV epidemic; Swaziland does indeed register the highest HIV prevalence in the world, reaching 27.4% in the adult population, in a State of a little more than one million inhabitants.

After several encounters both in Swaziland and Maputo and having seen DREAM’s work in the field in Mozambique, the hospital’s Management has expressed the will to implement the DREAM model for treatment in its structure. The agreement signed in the past few days expects the Good Sheperd Mission Hospital to implement the DREAM model with particular attention to the aspects of patient adherence, of the HIV/TB services integration and of the digitalization of the services; the continuous training of the personnel and the telemedicine will be other key points of the collaboration. The GSMH offers treatment services to more than 20.000 HIV+ patients all over the Lubombo district and the alliance with DREAM represents the choice to treat as many people as possible and with the best procedures, to face the huge challenge that the HIV epidemic represents for the Country.