From the beginning of 1998 to January 2000, MSD participated in the first Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) program in Côte d'Ivoire in partnership with CIRBA. It committed to providing its ARV drug Crixivan to twenty Ivorian patients participating in the project for as long as they needed it. The patients' CD4 cell counts, cells that determine the immune system's ability to fight infections, increased while their viral loads, the number of copies of the virus in the blood, decreased. The project was successful. During this period, MSD also gave CIRBA a $127,000 financial contribution to allow the center to buy laboratory equipment. 

"MSD is still one of CIRBA's committed partners. Most recently it has sponsored the training of doctors from CIRBA in clinical research and ARV therapy programs in France and Canada." - Dr Henri Chenal, Director of CIRBA.