LOS ANGELES, April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the US’ largest AIDS organization, with clinics in the US, Africa and Central America hailed today’s William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation announcement of an agreement to make available the commonly used three-drug anti-retroviral (ARV) regimens in over 100 countries at an unparalleled price of $139 per person per year. An agreement between UNICEF, the World Bank, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and a number of generic drug manufacturers was announced that will extend the discounted prices for ARV treatment previously available in only 16 countries to now more than 100 developing countries.
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AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein welcomed today’s news with the following statement:
“We applaud the coalition’s effort to extend low priced, life-saving anti-retroviral drugs to more countries that desperately need it. We implore the US government to join the international consensus in support of low cost, generic, fixed dose combination therapy. For developing world providers such as AHF, each dollar of reduction in the cost of drugs, leads immediately to more lives saved.”
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) operates free HIV treatment clinics in South Africa, Uganda, and Honduras. AIDS Healthcare Foundation is the largest specialized provider of HIV/AIDS medical care in the United States. AHF serves thousands of patients in California, New York and Florida regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. In addition, the AHF Global Immunity program currently also operates three free AIDS treatment clinics in the developing world: in South Africa, the Ithembalabantu (Zulu for “people’s hope”) Clinic in KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa; Uganda, the Uganda Cares Healthcare Center in Masaka, Uganda; and Honduras, the Siempre Unidos Clinic in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. http://www.aidshealth.org/.
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CONTACT: Clint Trout, Associate Director of Federal and InternationalPolicy of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, +1-323-860-5224
Web site: http://www.aidshealth.org/