HIV Digest	HIV Digest Archive

The Starfish Project is an international HIV/AIDS treatment initiative, which provides both technical support and material resources to health care providers and community workers in limited-resource settings. The Project is a program of the Center for Special Studies (CSS), an independent AIDS clinic located at Weill Cornell/New York Presbyterian Medical Center, in New York City, New York.Current operations are focused in Southwest Nigeria.

The Nigeria Project

The Starfish Project began as a drugs salvage program, collecting unused HIV medications for use in settings without access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. This effort spawned a more comprehensive partnership with two teams of health care providers in Nigeria, where they work in collaboration to provide care, utilizing ARV therapy, to approximately 60 HIV-positive individuals. The impact of the clinical care reaches beyond these individuals­ indeed, the availability of treatment has acted as a catalyst for other HIV/AIDS education and outreach efforts. For instance, a small support group of three persons has grown into a monthly meeting of over 70 people, offering a space for patient education, peer-peer counseling and emotional support.

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The Starfish Project is dedicated to strengthening the capacity of Nigerians to offer top-rate, comprehensive HIV/AIDS care. This goal is achieved through provider education and the contribution of materials like diagnostic equipment, physical infrastructure support, and the HIV medications themselves (including drugs to fight opportunistic infections). The Starfish Project provides a one-month training to Nigerian professionals­ including nurses, doctors, and laboratory scientists­ and supports continuing education through on-site follow-up and ongoing communications about patient care.

Storing meds to donate

Starfish accepts all antiretroviral and HIV-related medicines and ships these drugs to health care providers in Nigeria. To comply with the law and respect the confidentiality of persons living with HIV, the names of all patients are removed from prescription bottles.

Three of the Protease Inhibitors (PIs) used in the treatment of HIV infection should be refrigerated while in storage, as they deteriorate if not refrigerated:

--Fortovase (saquinavir) capsules
--Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir) capsules
--Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir) oral solution
--Norvir (ritonavir) capsules (Do not refrigerate Norvir® oral solution)

Please promptly refrigerate these medications and keep them refrigerated until the day they are shipped.

Packing and shipping

Please place all pill bottles in a plastic bag and place this bag inside of a cardboard box. All pill bottles should be closed securely­ no loose capsules or tablets should be present in the plastic bag or box.

For locations in New York City, call to arrange pickup. See below for contact details.

For out-of-state donors, please ship all medications, including PIs that are cold stored, via FedEx Priority Overnight (Next Business Morning) for arrival in New York on non-holiday weekdays­ that is ship Sunday through Thursday for arrival in New York Monday through Friday. A single box may contain both cold-stored and non cold-stored medications. No ice, dry ice or cold packs are required for cold-stored medications. We can also provide you with pre-printed FedEx labels with our account number.

If possible, leave a phone or e-mail message notifying us that a shipment is on its way: 212-746-3890 or starfish@nyp.org.'

Shipping Address
Starfish Project, David Rogers Unit
Center for Special Studies
119 West 24th Street, First Floor
New York, New York 10011 USA

Medications collected

All antiretroviral medications, including Protease Inhibitors (PIs), Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs) and Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs). No expired drugs please.

Also needed: medications that can be used to treat opportunistic infections, such as
--Antifungals/Antimycotics (such as Fluconazole, Mycelex, Sporanox)
--Antivirals (such as Acyclovir, Famciclovir, Valacyclovir)
--Antibiotics (such as Ciprofloxacin, Amoxicillin. Metronidazole)
--Others: Bactrim, Dapsone, Sulfadiazine, Pyrimethamine, etc.
--TB Drugs (such as Rifampin)

Privacy Protected

Names on bottles are removed to insure privacy of patients. All drugs donated for use overseas go to trained health care professionals to insure proper use.