Global Presence

Starting in 1998, a long-term team of MSH advisors based in two regions of Guinea helped Guinean health authorities implement and strengthen Guinea's decentralized health services. MSH worked with regional, district, and community partners to improve access to and quality of reproductive health, maternal and child health, and HIV/AIDS services. Innovative approaches to adult education, on-the-job training, and management increased the use of family planning and of condoms for the prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. By the end of 2002, the contraceptive prevalence rate in MSH's target area was 6.5 percent compared to 2.9 percent in 1999. Additionally, in the face of the burgeoning HIV/AIDS epidemic, MSH's efforts in HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention and care resulted in 72 percent of youth knowing that condom use can help prevent HIV infection. Furthermore, STI care became available in 53 percent of health centers in Haute Guinée; no health centers in Haute Guinée offered STI care before the PRISM project.