Business Wire - December 6, 2001
AHF Global Community (AHF GI), an international initiative of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, today announced it is joining with government and business interests in Uganda to launch a new partnership to provide access to life-saving medical care for Ugandans living with AIDS.
The partnership, to be called UGANDA CARES, includes the Uganda Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (UBC) and the Ministry of Health/Government of Uganda and AHF GI.
The official unveiling of UGANDA CARES takes place today, Thursday, December 6 during a daylong celebration and tree-planting ceremony in the Masaka District in Uganda (approximately 70 miles southwest from Kampala, the capital of Uganda). Masaka, the planned site, is the first UGANDA CARES AIDS antiretroviral treatment facility. The facility will care for hundreds of Ugandan AIDS patients regardless of their ability to pay.
UGANDA CARES grew out of a friendship forged between officials of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest AIDS medical provider in the United States, and officials of The Ugandan Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, a non-governmental organization formed to assist in the planning, coordination, advocating and promotion of relevant HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs in the private workplaces and the communities in Uganda. Following the First African Great Lakes Conference on HIV/AIDS Care and Support, held in Entebbe last September (jointly hosted by AHF GI and UBC), a memorandum of understanding was entered between the three partners -- AHF GI, UBC and the Uganda Ministry of Health -- to establish model healthcare center(s) that would be able to offer antiretroviral treatment to the poor in Uganda. Based on this understanding, the UGANDA CARES initiative has been formed as a joint partnership.
"President Yoweri Museveni and the country of Uganda are widely recognized as the world's leader in HIV prevention," said Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "However, Uganda needs help to care for those who are already infected. The success we achieve with this collaborative HIV treatment initiative in Uganda will be a beacon of hope to all people living with HIV across the globe."
Despite significant progress the world has witnessed in life-saving treatment advances, the vast majority of people living with HIV/AIDS in the developing world still do not have access to appropriate care and support. The lack of adequate and sustainable financing has long been identified as a key barrier impeding access to the provision of such care and support. It is hoped that this first UGANDA CARES treatment initiative will demonstrate that antiretroviral therapies (ARVs) can be provided and delivered in a resource-constrained setting, with the facility becoming a model for delivery of cost-effective, quality AIDS care in Uganda and elsewhere around the world.
"The daunting challenge of confronting the epidemic is still with us," said Dr. Dickson Opul, Director of the UBC. "Fear and flight has no place in the presence of a silently persistent and aggressive adversary."
HIV/AIDS in Uganda
Of Uganda's current population of more than 21 million people, 1.5 to 2 million are HIV positive or are living with AIDS. However, only 5,000 and 8,000 of these HIV positive Ugandans receive life-saving antiretroviral therapy, the majority of whom receive them on an intermittent basis due to financial and logistical constraints. Therefore, there is an urgent need to close the existing HIV/AIDS treatment gap.
Masaka, approximately 70 miles southwest of Kampala, is geographically close to what is thought to be the birthplace of the global AIDS epidemic. The total population of the region is just over 900,000.
The UGANDA CARES AIDS Treatment Facility
The UGANDA CARES clinic will be situated at the Masaka District government referral hospital where so far many AIDS patients are cared for and treated. Few, if any of these patients, however, currently have access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs.
The UGANDA CARES Masaka Healthcare Center anticipates treating several hundred patients in the first half of 2002 and will in-take additional new patients as more financial resources become available from donors. It is expected that medical providers fluent in local languages, such as Luganda and Swahili will care for the Masaka patients. The goal of UGANDA CARES is to ultimately set up similar AIDS treatment centers throughout Uganda.
"Together with the UGANDA CARES partners, AHF Global Immunity looks forward to providing effective and affordable patient-centered HIV/AIDS care and support services, including the use of antiretroviral therapy, that are appropriate in Uganda," said Henry E. Chang, executive director, AHF Global Immunity.
Ugandan Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (UBC)
UBC-HIV/AIDS is a legally registered not for profit non-governmental service organization formed to assist in the planning, coordination, advocating and promotion of relevant HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs in the private workplaces and the communities.
AHF Global Immunity (AHF GI-USA)
AHF Global Immunity is a non-profit, international initiative of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF). AHF Global Immunity works in partnership with local stakeholders to establish sustainable and replicable models for HIV/AIDS healthcare service delivery in resource-scarce settings.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)
AIDS Healthcare Foundation is the largest HIV/AIDS specialty medical provider in the United States. Established in 1987, Los Angeles-based AHF now serves over 11,000 HIV positive patients regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay in California, Florida and New York. AHF operates thirteen outpatient community-based primary care clinics and one sub-acute in-patient care facility.
CONTACT: AIDS Healthcare Foundation (United States) Ged Kenslea, 323/860-5225 (work), 323/791-5526 (cellular) or AHF Global Immunity (Uganda) Henry E. Chang, 011-27-82 858-8324 (worldwide cellular)
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