PRNewswire - June 1, 2007

KANDAL PROVINCE, Cambodia, June 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest AIDS organization in the United States, which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, and Asia, and which early last year joined together with the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia and Cambodia's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STI Control (NCHADS) in a partnership to provide life-saving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to people living with HIV/AIDS in four provinces in Cambodia, announced the opening of its newest free AIDS treatment clinic in this partnership: a clinic facility in the Koh Thum District, in Kandal Province, Cambodia. The Koh Thum ART Treatment Clinic will open with a formal ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony at the facility in Kandal Province this Saturday June 2nd.

"We are deeply honored to announce the opening of this newest free antiretroviral clinic in Cambodia in Koh Thum District in Kandal Province, one of five AIDS treatment clinics now operating in the country in our partnership with the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia and the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STI," said Dr. Chinkholal Thangsing, Asia Pacific Bureau Chief for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "Over the next five years, AIDS Healthcare Foundation with NCHADS will expand and increase our collaborative initiatives to provide technical support and strengthen the antiretroviral treatment roll out and scale up of ART delivery services in Cambodia via designated facilities in at least twelve sites in at least twelve provinces as well as in Phnom Penh. We will also work closely together to support the Royal Government of Cambodia's overall HIV/AIDS ART treatment initiatives. It is our sincere hope that this collaboration between AHF and NCHADS will improve access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment throughout Cambodia."

At a previous clinic dedication ceremony in the partnership, in Kampot when the Kampot ART Treatment Clinic opened with a formal dedication ceremony attended by over 200 people in late September, Dr. Mean Chhi Vun, Director NCHADS, and Advisor to the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia, said, "NCHADS is very grateful and highly appreciates AIDS Healthcare Foundation's commitment to support ART clinics and save more lives of people living with HIV/AIDS in Cambodia. We highly treasure our relationship with AHF."

"The antiretroviral treatment clinic in Koh Thum being dedicated Saturday in this partnership was first established in November 2005 by NCHADS, and is located in the compound of the Koh Thum Referral Hospital, Koh Thum Operational District in Kandal Province," said Dr. Chhim Sarath, AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Country Program Manager for Cambodia. "The ART clinic is operating in a new building provided by NCHADS, and since November 2005 until now, 172 people living with HIV/AIDS have registered at the clinic. Among them, 84 have already started on antiretroviral treatment, and we are both honored and humbled to partner with NCHADS and the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia to help bring ART to many more Cambodians who may be in need of access to such lifesaving care and treatment."

The partnerships were first formalized in March 2006 in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between AHF and the Cambodian Ministry of Health, and in a letter of agreement (LOA) with AHF, the Ministry of Health, and the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STI Control. Through these partnerships, AHF, the Cambodian Ministry of Health and NCHADS plan to work together on ART scale up in several Cambodian Provinces -- now including Kandal Province -- with the goal of bringing 3,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Cambodia into treatment over the next five years. In mid-January of this year, a new clinic in the partnership was also opened and dedicated in Stung Streng Province.

One key aspect contributing to the success of AHF's work with its partners in Cambodia includes the linkage of clinic services provided together with other community and home-based services. In addition, the Cambodian partnership focuses on integrating the delivery of services under a Continuum of Care (CoC) approach, an approach that recognizes the complexities surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic in order to improve prevention efforts and optimize use of the oftentimes limited resources available in the successful care and treatment of those living with the disease.

Background on Kandal Province

Kandal Province, one of 20 provinces in Cambodia, is a relatively high prevalence area for HIV/AIDS. It is located in the southern part of Cambodia, and its capital provincial town is Ta Khmau. The Province completely surrounds, but does not include, the national capital, Phnom Penh, which is its own separate municipality. In Kandal Province, Koh Thum serves as one of the Operational Health Districts (OD). Ta Khmau, the provincial town, is located just 11 kms from Phnom Penh, and the population of the surrounding area is around 1,224,433. The Province consists of eight Operational Districts, with each Operational District containing one Referral Hospital and number of individual Health Centers. Koh Thum is in the southern part of Kandal Province (about 70km from the provincial town, Ta Khmau) on the border with the country of Viet Nam.

The objectives of this latest collaboration in Kandal is similar to the partnerships' other projects in Kampong Thom, Kampot and Stung Streng Provinces as well as in the capital of Phnom Penh, and are as enumerated as below:

* Capacity and skill building of the doctors and healthcare providers at the Kandal Referral Hospital in collaboration with NCHADS.

* Establishment of an ART Clinic at the Kandal Hospital and provision of free ART to PLHAs -- including treatment of both adults and children.

The initial collaboration between AHF and these respected Cambodian institutions first began and were celebrated in March and April 2006 with formal ribbon-cutting ceremonies at the first two other free AIDS treatment facilities (Kampong Thom Province and Phnom Penh). The Phnom Penh facility is located at the Preah Ket Mealea Hospital, and that collaboration was also formalized in a separate MOU between AHF and the Preah Ket Mealea Hospital of the Royal Government of Cambodia. The goal of that facility is to bring medical care and ART to an additional 300 Cambodians.

The first case of HIV infection in Cambodia was reported in 1991 and was followed by a rapid rise in its transmission. Cambodia's national HIV/AIDS prevalence rate -- around 3% in 1997 but decreasing to 1.9% in 2003 -- is still understood to be one of the highest in Southeast Asia. According to a recent AFP/France 24 News Report (as cited on Kaiser Family Foundation's Daily HIV/AIDS Report), "Almost 10,000 Cambodians die of AIDS-related illnesses annually, according to government statistics. About 1.9% of Cambodia's 13.8 million people are HIV-positive."

"This growing collaboration between AHF and our esteemed Cambodian partners includes the delivery of innovative medical and non-medical interventions; providing technical support and training resources to increase and strengthen the diagnostic and treatment capacity and skills of HIV/AIDS and ART treatment services providers in Cambodia -- all of which will now also take place in Kandal Province," said Henry E. Chang, AHF's Chief of Global Affairs. "AHF has significant expertise and experience in ART service delivery and skills and capacity building related to HIV/AIDS treatment and care, and we are therefore well-positioned to complement the Cambodian Ministry of Health in its efforts to enhance access to prevention, treatment and care at these facilities in Cambodia."

"The Royal Government of Cambodia has undertaken significant efforts to treat its people living with HIV/AIDS and to try to arrest and eliminate the epidemic, and we salute them for a pragmatic and visionary approach to fighting the disease," said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "This partnership brings together many respected stakeholders with expertise and clinical, public health and management skills that are essential for any successful HIV treatment program, and it is a privilege for AIDS Healthcare Foundation to partner with the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia and NCHADS to support the scale up of HIV/AIDS treatment in Cambodia through this initiative."

SOURCE AIDS Healthcare Foundation

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