Business Wire - November 20, 2008

AHF to Unveil Its “One Million Tests” Campaign, an Ambitious Global Effort to Test One Million People Worldwide for HIV During Observation of World AIDS Day 2008 (Dec 1^st)

1,000 Organizations Worldwide—Including 99 Partners in the US—Will Test a Combined Total of One Million Individuals for HIV Between Nov 26^th – December 1^st

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Two years after the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) first recommended routine HIV testing for everyone between the ages of 13 and 64, HIV testing goals in the US continue to fall far short of the CDC’s recommendations according to a report given during a ‘Forum for Collaborative HIV Research’ meeting held today in Washington, DC.

There are approximately 1.2 million individuals in the US thought to be living with HIV/AIDS today, yet as many as a quarter of a million of these people do not know their HIV status as they have never been tested for the virus.

“These lackluster numbers for domestic HIV testing continue to be a scathing indictment of how profoundly U.S. and CDC HIV prevention efforts have failed,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the U.S.' largest AIDS organization. “The U.S. must immediately appropriate $200 million in order to test 10 million people over the next three years. Massive scale-up of HIV testing is the only way to bring down the number of new infections. Identifying all those who are infected and linking them to treatment is the only way to break the chain of new infections and begin to address the nation’s runaway epidemic.”

In a related note and in conjunction with the upcoming observation of World AIDS Day (December 1st), AIDS Healthcare Foundation has spearheaded the ambitious One Million Tests World AIDS Day 2008 campaign, a collaborative global effort to test one million people for HIV during the week of November 26th through December 1st. Close to 1,000 partner organizations around the world—including 99 partners in the US—will join in this group effort by testing people for HIV in their countries and regions. For more information on One Million Tests, please visit: www.onemilliontests.org.

About AHF

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the US’ largest HIV/AIDS organization. AHF currently provides treatment, care and support services to more than 86,000 individuals in 22 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia. Additional information is available at www.aidshealth.org.