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Our story is about Liberia's unrecognized people...

and their power to accomplish the extraordinary

• November 2006 – Foundation for Tiyatien Health’s work on rural healthcare and HIV/AIDS is built when TH co-founders and Liberian civil war survivors, Weafus Quitoe and Raj Panjabi, work with AIDS-affected rural Liberian women, community health workers and colleagues to design integrated, comprehensive HIV and primary healthcare services at Martha Tubman Hospital in Zwedru, Tchien District.

• February 2007 – TH co-founders share the life narratives of these rural Liberian women affected by AIDS (called "Josephine's Story") with the President of Liberia, Honorable Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and her Minister of Health, Honorable Dr. Walter Gwenigale at a board meeting of the Liberian Country Mechanism for the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The HIV Equity Initiative and Tiyatien Health are launched to focus on providing high-quality HIV services and rebuilding a world-class rural health system in the poorest corner of Liberia.

• March 2007 – With Global Fund support, Tiyatien Health and Ministry of Health launch HIV Equity Initiative, the first HIV treatment program at a rural public health center, and begin southeastern Liberia's first HIV patient on antiretroviral treatment. Within two years, more than 300 patients will be in care — one of the largest HIV care programs in rural Liberia.

• November 2007 – Tiyatien Health and the Liberian National AIDS & STI Control Program release its first official report on Liberia's HIV Equity Initiative, documenting dramatic impact on AIDS mortality and treatment retention at 6 months of implementation. NACP and TH begin work to adapt delivery models nationally.

• January 2008 – Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University's Center for AIDS Research invites Tiyatien's HIV Equity Initiative to join its HIV Online Provider Education (HOPE) network.

• March 2008 – Tiyatien receives over $100,000 in funding and in-kind support from the UNHCR and OFID to finance its HIV Equity Initiative.

• July 2008 – Tiyatien welcomes its new medical director, Dr. David Okiror, formerly with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative in Liberia. In addition to providing HIV care, Dr. Okiror is one of only two physicians providing obstetric, pediatric and medical care to Grand Gedeh’s catchment area of over 100,000 people.

• August 2008 – In an abstract joined by the Liberian Minister of Health, Dr. Walter Gwenigale, Tiyatien Health and the Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare present findings of the HIV Equity Initiative at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City.

• August 2008 - Liberian Ministry of Health partners with Tiyatien to launch first rural Chronic Care Clinic tointegrate and strengthen HIV/TB and primary healthcare in Zwedru, Liberia. This model clinic is the only rural center working to care for chronic diseases —including depression, epilepsy, hypertension, diabetes, and congestive heart failure—in Liberia.

• August 2008 - Tiyatien Health members, in collaboration with Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, publish research in the Journal of the American Medical Association, finding that Liberian fighters exposed to sexual violence experience more mental health disorders in aftermath the of the war.

• August 2008 - Tiyatien Co-Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Rajesh Panjabi, along with physicians from Partners In Health and Harvard University, publish an article in the Lancet outlining the role of illness narratives in conflict and postconflict regions.

• October 2008 – Tiyatien Health Executive Director, Dr. Rajesh Panjabi, delivers keynote presentation on Tiyatien Health's work on rural healthcare at 15th annual Partners in Health Thomas J. White Symposium, “Pushing the Boundaries: Past, Present and Future” at Sanders Theatre at Harvard University.

• November 2008 – Tiyatien Health invited to join Government of Liberia's National Mental Health Policy Committee, which will draft Liberia’s first national policy and plan on mental health.

• January/February 2009 – Tiyatien Health works with National Tuberculosis Control Program, Clinton Foundation and Partners in Health to diagnose first cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Liberia. Tiyatien Health supports Liberia's successful application to the Green Light Committee to procure second-line treatment for patients with MDR-TB.

• February - April 2009 – Tiyatien Health works with partners, including Merlin and the Ministry of Health to jointly operate and rebuild primary health services, including surgical and emergency obstetrical care, at Martha Tubman Hospital.

• June 2009 – The Liberian Ministry of Health, Tiyatien Health and other partners complete draft of first National Mental Health Policy in Liberia.

• July 2009 – Tiyatien Health members, Danielle Alkov and Julia Fleming of Harvard Medical School, work with women in southeastern Liberia to launch the Photovoice project, a documentary which aims to elicit the authentic narrative of rural Liberian women. Through their own photographhy and audio recording, 18 women document their own health and daily life realities. The participants engage in a process of critical reflection through a series of workshops and their photographs serve as a catalyst to engage participants and policy-makers in group dialogue for social change.