rapidly and is particularly deadly where many people's immune systems are weakened by hiv. the pih project in lesotho was launched in 2006 following an invitation from the lesotho's ministry of health and consultation with the clinton hiv/aids initiative (chai, now known as the clinton health access initiative) about where to replicate that model elsewhere in africa. an aerial image of pih's new butaro hospital, the largest public facility in rwanda. rwandan president paul kagame and pih's paul farmer at the butaro ribbon cutting ceremony in 2011. rwanda partners in health/inshuti mu buzima (imb) has been working in rwanda since 2005. in partnership with the government of rwanda and the clinton health access initiative (chai), imb's work supports the ministry of health to comprehensively strengthen the public health system in rural, underserved areas of the country. initially, pih and chai began by implementing a pilot project in two rural districts, kayonza and kirehe, in rwanda's eastern province. building off of pih's approach in haiti, the project was designed as a comprehensive primary health care model within the public sector. the approach used hiv/aids prevention and care as the entry point to build capacity to address the major health problems faced by the local population. haitian physicians, nurses, and managers traveled to rwanda extensively in the early years of the program to provide training and program design assistance. inshuti mu buzima-supported facilities in january 2011, pih supported the ministry of health of rwanda in the opening of butaro district hospital. the hospital, located in burera district, has 156 beds. university of global health equity in september 2015, partners in health inaugurated university of global health equity, a non-for-profit organization offering a two-year part-time master's degree in global health delivery. construction began in september 2016 on the first phase of a campus located in butaro. the new campus officially opened in january 2019. malawi in early 2007, abwenzi pa za umoyo (apzu; partners in health in chichewa), started treating patients and training community health workers in the southwestern corner of malawi, one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in africa. the clinton-hunter development initiative (chdi) targeted malawi as a country desperately needing a rural health project to address the devastating hiv/aids epidemic in the region. about 14 percent of malawi's adult population is infected with hiv and hundreds of thousands of children have been orphaned by the disease. chdi asked partners in health to replicate the rural initiative programs that have proven so successful in delivering hiv treatment and comprehensive primary health care in rwanda and lesotho. the malawi ministry of health directed pih and chdi to the impoverished rural area of neno. in 2010, apzu tested 17,606 patients for hiv. the organization clinics logged 332,619 patient visits. apzu supported 889 children, allowing them to attend school and receive food. ebola response in west africa in late 2014, pih heeded calls from the governments of liberia and sierra leone, and other international partners, to join the fight against ebola in west africa. although pih is not an emergency response organization, they felt the moral obligation to join the response, given the unprecedented nature of the outbreak in west africa. sierra leone pih arrived in sierra leone at a time when the situation was worsening. the organization sought to quickly respond to the outbreak. they began in port loko district at the maforki ebola treatment unit and scaled up from there to provide clinical care at 16 facilities across 4 districts, while managing a network of ebola response community health workers, providing surveillance, support and referrals in rural communities. the organization took a health systems strengthening approach and aimed to work together with government entities to support the response to the outbreak. as ebola was brought under control, pih shifted to support the ministry of health in rebuilding its health system. today pih's sierra leone program is focused on raising the standard of care through programs in kono and port loko districts, with a focus on maternal health, hiv/tb and ebola survivor care. liberia pih began work in liberia in november 2014, focused on responding to ebola in maryland county, a 20-hour drive south from the capital of monrovia. they supported two ebola treatment units and three community care centers, and taught teachers and community members new techniques to slow the spread of infections. since ebola came under control in liberia in march 2015, pih has focused on helping rebuild the health system, primarily for a population of roughly 100,000 in maryland county. kazakhstan since 2009, pih has worked in kazakhstan with the ministry of health to provide services treating mdr-tb. partner projects pih also supports partner projects in the following countries: africa: project muso in mali; tiyatien health in liberia; village health works in burundi asia: possible health in nepal central america: equipo técnico de educación en salud comunitaria in guatemala pih also previously worked in the dominican republic.