PIONARY COMMITMENT AGAINST PEDIATRIC AND PERINATAL HIV
In 1997, a family care centre dedicated to HIV, infectious diseases and immunological disorders was founded at the University of New Jersey by James Oleske and Mary Boland.
In the early 1990s, the FXB Foundation, founded and chaired by Albina du Boisrouvray, provided generous funding to improve local clinical services and expand the centre's expertise in response to the rise of the HIV pandemic.
In recognition of this support, the institution was renamed Centre François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) and launched the International Training Program (FXB-PFI) in the wake. This pioneering programme was one of the first to train health care providers from around the world in the care of pregnant women infected with HIV, as well as infants and children affected by perinatal transmission. The FXB Foundation also launched the FXB Chair in Pediatric Allergies and Infectious Diseases, awarded to Dr. James Oleske. In 1996, a second chair in community paediatric nursing was established.
From 1990 to 2000, this program (FXB-PFI) developed personalized education and training for over 200 health care providers in 37 countries. FXB teams also provided training to providers in countries and collaborated with national trainers to develop and implement HIV study programmes and support systems in 18 countries.
Since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, the FXB team has contributed to all major developments in the area of paediatric and perinatal HIV, including the PACTG 076 protocol for PMTCT, the first guidelines for antiretroviral treatment for children, the first international paediatric HIV training programme and the first such website dedicated to the collection, review and sharing of advanced information on paediatric HIV with providers and consumers.
In 1997, the closure of the United Hospital led to the transfer of the FXB Centre to UMDNJ, where it became a centre affiliated with the School of Nursing. In July 2013, now independent of FXB Foundation financial support, the FXB Centre was integrated into the Rutgers School of Nursing at the State University of New Jersey.