GAIA Global Health marks Twenty-Five Years of Service

By Ellen Schell, PhD, RN GAIA Global Health Board member

September 2025

‍

Twenty five years ago, The Rev. William (Bill) Rankin and Dr. Charlie Wilson became aware that for all that we had suffered here in the US during the worst of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the problem in Sub-Saharan Africa was far greater. In 2000, 340,000 Americans were infected with the virus; in Sub-Saharan Africa, there were some 17 million. While antiviral medications were bringing hope to Americans living with HIV, for Africans, an HIV diagnosis was a condemnation to suffering, stigmatization, isolation, and life cut short. Children were affected too, contracting HIV in utero or from their nursing mothers, or left orphaned as their parents succumbed. 

Bill and Charlie forged ahead to see what they could do to respond to this crisis. They assembled a board with Charlie as President, registered as a nonprofit organization, and GAIA was born with Bill serving as President and CEO. Bill used his church networks on the African continent to begin a program of HIV education for pastors and Charlie mobilized his contacts at UCSF, experts in HIV, to advise the GAIA board. Under Charlie’s guidance the board decided to focus on the country of Malawi where Bill identified intense need and where he had made some promising contacts.  

I had the good fortune to be the first employee Bill hired, and then served for over two decades as the International Programs Director and then Senior Advisor for GAIA. The changes and growth I saw over that time were remarkable. Bill was a wise and immensely skilled builder of organizations with a remarkable sense of mission and moral authority. He knew that Malawians must lead and shape the Malawian entity. He would tell me “Malawians understand their problems and know where they need support, they can show us what we can do to help.” That philosophy underscored the organization from the start. Bill also could preach to the heart, and helped awaken American congregations to the tragedy unfolding in Africa. In his preaching, he called on his listeners to honor the humanity of their Malawian brothers and sisters, help relieve the suffering and empower them to address the challenges they faced. Congregants and other donors stepped up to support GAIA.  

Bill and I spent time in Malawi each year, developing relationships, making friends, and helping build the organization. Back in the US, we started applying for funding and were pleased to receive one of the first grants for global health awarded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant allowed GAIA to develop and execute a three year program to educate and train village women in HIV prevention, care of people living with HIV and care of the orphans left behind. Ultimately, this project was expanded to serve a total of 137 villages. 2004 brought the anti-retroviral medications to Malawi through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and GAIA was now able to help people living with HIV access treatment.  It was a game changer for the country and a source of hope for its citizens. To see villagers restored to health, rather than knowing they might not be with us when I made my next visit to the country, was a remarkable and heartening experience. 

Through Charlie’s friend and colleague, Dr. Michael Gottlieb, we got an introduction to The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. Inspired by the success of an initiative she funded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Ms. Taylor herself offered to help us start a mobile clinic program in Malawi providing primary health services including HIV testing and care. The program started with two vehicles in one district and has now expanded to seven clinics serving three districts. The program recently marked three million patient visits since its inception in 2008. GAIA’s programs have helped Malawi achieve remarkable success in controlling the HIV epidemic: AIDS-related deaths have fallen by 81%, and over 91% among children, and new infections have decreased dramatically. Moreover, the clinics’ focus on key common illnesses like malaria, pneumonia and high blood pressure has improved health and saved lives. 

GAIA has also worked to strengthen the health care infrastructure of the country. In Malawi, nurses are the backbone of the health care system and provide most of the primary care. After learning that many young people who had gained admission to nursing programs were unable to attend university because they couldn’t afford the fees (many themselves AIDS orphans) we started the nursing scholarship program, which now has educated over 600 Malawians to become nurses. Graduates from the program represent about 10% of Malawi’s nurse workforce. Over the course of my years with GAIA, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see the young people in the program grow in skill, knowledge, and confidence and become leaders in the nursing profession in their country. GAIA was proud to have the scholarship program receive its first USAID grant in 2010, which helped us expand the program over the subsequent 5 years.  

Bill retired from GAIA in 2011, and was succeeded in leadership by Todd Schafer who has capably carried forward the torch in the spirit of GAIA’s founders. In Malawi, Joyce Jere, who had headed the nursing scholarship program for GAIA, succeeded Jones Laviwa as Country Director after his retirement in 2015. GAIA’s first nurse leader, she has expanded and developed the capacity of the Malawi entity and oversaw GAIA Malawi’s successful application for its second USAID grant to support the nursing scholarship program and more. We lost Charlie in 2018, and Bill in 2022 but I know that they would be proud of how GAIA has grown, and would rejoice at the lives that have been saved and communities strengthened by GAIA’s work. 

We live in a time when the importance of America’s commitment to leadership in global health and support for low-income countries is being challenged or eradicated. The closing of USAID and abrupt cuts ended US government funding for GAIA’s work. But this disappointment does not defeat us. We are determined to celebrate the accomplishments of the past 25 years and forge onward, just as Bill and Charlie would urge us to do.  Joyce Jere captured the response of our Malawian colleagues who joined us in this spirit when she said “We Malawians are resilient. We know that circumstances can change. We accept things, keep a positive attitude, and move on.” We invite you to join us in this spirit on September 26^th, when GAIA Global Health’s supporters will gather at the top of Salesforce Tower in San Francisco from 5:30-8:00PM to celebrate a first quarter century of impact in Malawi. To join the 25th Anniversary Celebration or to donate, Please click here.

For more information on the effects of US Government policy please visit GAIA’s website. 

‍