Project Provides Unused American AIDS Drugs to Nigerian Clinic

The AP/Boston Herald on Monday profiled the Starfish Project, a two-year old charity that ships unused medication from American AIDS patients to a Nigerian clinic. While the organization cannot "tackle Africa's [AIDS] pandemic on a large scale," Dr. Brian Boyle of Cornell University's Weill Medical College, the project's co-founder, said the effort can "make a change in the lives of individuals, one by one." Boyle said the organization helps extend the life expectancy of HIV-positive people. "If a patient has no hope, why get tested when the only thing to look forward to is a life of stigma and discrimination," he said. "Giving them the drugs opens that door for them," he added. In addition to distributing medications, the project teaches African physicians the proper way to administer the drugs, and as the organization's drug supply increases, it intends to begin stocking other clinics (AP/Boston Herald, 7/8).