For PIH and our partner organizations, 2006 was a year of daunting challenges and striking achievements. For the second consecutive year, we launched a new project, this time in Lesotho. We also strengthened and expanded our operations in countries where we have been working for many years. We constructed and inaugurated new facilities in Peru, Haiti and Rwanda. We substantially increased the numbers of patients we serve and initiated major new programs to serve them better.

During our second year in Rwanda, PIH and our Rwandan partner organization Inshuti Mu Buzima (IMB) continued to renovate and expand our clinical facilities, scaled up our comprehensive HIV care program dramatically, more than doubling the number of patients on antiretroviral therapy, and expanded our support for nutrition, housing and other social and economic needs.

After months of construction, training, and procuring equipment and supplies, the operating room at Rwinkwavu Hospital in Rwanda is open for business. Being able to provide obstetrical surgery could save hundreds of lives in an area where maternal mortality rates are high and transportation to hospitals in other districts is not readily available.