"When Médecins Sans Frontières launched ARV programmes in Chiradzulu, things and people started to change. Those who had no hope could now have access to free ARV treatment, and we saw really sick people recovering, gaining strength, resuming their normal activities. It motivates other people to get tested, reckoning that even if you test positive you can lead a normal life."
- Fraser Chimbuzi, Médecins Sans Frontières counselling manager

Malawi has one of the world’s highest rates of HIV/AIDS, with 10.6 percent of people between 15 and 49 today affected by the virus. In 1997, Médecins Sans Frontières started its programme in the rural district of Chiradzulu, in the south of the country, where today 14.5 percent of the population between 15 and 49 is infected with HIV. At that time, as no ARV drugs were available in the country until 2001, Médecins Sans Frontières was focusing on the treatment of opportunistic illnesses and palliative care at the district hospital and on prevention of infections. In 2001, Médecins Sans Frontières began providing antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and follow-up at the district hospital and the first patients were placed on ARV drugs in August 2001. The program was designed to demonstrate that ARV drugs could be provided in low-resource rural contexts, where they would prolong life and allow people to regain their autonomy. The aim was also to show that those patients are able to follow a life long treatment. Although no one believed this could be achieved, Médecins Sans Frontières took up the challenge. Since Médecins Sans Frontières’ ARV treatment program began in 2001, more than 52,000 patients have been followed by Médecins Sans Frontières teams. Today, more than 55 percent of the patients who started treatment in 2001 are still actively followed and are alive and healthy.