JHPIEGO (its name is not an acronym), a nonprofit health organization affiliated with The Johns Hopkins University, works worldwide to "train trainers" — whether they are hospital employees or African village laymen.
JHPIEGO draws on resources from Johns Hopkins' schools of Public Health, Medicine and Nursing, but doesn't offer medical treatment or family services. The organization trains people overseas to do that instead, and mainly uses local medical practitioners and trainers to run its programs.
"Our focus is on establishing the system," said Sam Dowding, acting director of JHPIEGO's Center of Excellence on HIV/AIDS. "We work in institutions where we train the trainers, so in 5 years, 10 years, it continues to be self-sustained."
The organization's funding largely comes from the federal government, which has backed the organization since its first day in operation.
In 2005, the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a five-year, $15 billion initiative to fight AIDS abroad, granted the organization $8.2 million for its efforts in Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. The funding accounted for more than a fifth of JHPIEGO's $37.5 million program expenditures and built on its work in more than 90 countries worldwide.
But at least one of JHPIEGO's programs has been debated in international circles and was not supported by PEPFAR.
Working history with U.S. government
For more than 30 years, JHPIEGO has been working with the U.S. Agency for International Development to improve health care services for women and families in developing countries.
It was founded in 1973 to implement a five-year USAID grant to train obstetricians and gynecologists. After the grant's extension, JHPIEGO expanded its global presence through partnerships with USAID, then with private foundations and other international health organizations.