Asia PR News

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia and LOS ANGELES, March 31 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ –

US’ Largest AIDS Group Joins Forces With The Ministry of Health, Royal
Government of Cambodia and The National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and
STI Control (NCHADS) to Provide Life-Saving Anti-Retroviral AIDS Therapy
(ART) at Three provinces in Cambodia

Occasion Marked by Formal Ribbon-Cutting Ceremonies at New Free AIDS Treatment
Clinics in Kampong Thom on March 30th and in Phnom Penh Set for Saturday
April 1st

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest AIDS organization in the
United States, which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa,
Central America, and Asia, has 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 new partnership to provide
life-saving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to people living with HIV/AIDS in
Cambodia. The partnerships were recently formalized 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 its new
partnerships, AHF, the Cambodian Ministry of Health and NCHADS plan to work
together on ART scale up in three Cambodian Provinces with the goal of
bringing 3,000 Cambodian HIV/AIDS patients into treatment over the next five
years.

"We are honored to announce that we have joined together to work with the
Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia and the National Center for
HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STI Control to scale up delivery of medical care and
anti-retroviral treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS throughout Cambodia,"
said Dr. Chinkholal Thangsing, Asia Pacific Bureau Chief for AIDS Healthcare
Foundation in a statement from AHF’s Asia Pacific Bureau in India. "During
the next five years, AIDS Healthcare Foundation will collaborate with our
esteemed partners to provide technical support to increase and strengthen the
ART roll out and scale up of ART delivery services via designated facilities
in three provinces in Cambodia. We will also work closely together to support
the Royal Government of Cambodia’s overall HIV/AIDS ART treatment initiatives.
We believe that this collaboration between AHF and NCHADS will improve access
to HIV/AIDS care and treatment throughout the country."

The collaboration between AHF and these respected Cambodian institutions
are being celebrated and marked this week in Cambodia with formal
ribbon-cutting ceremonies at two of these new free AIDS treatment facilities.
Yesterday, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in Kampong Thom at one of the
new ART clinics that will be run by AHF in collaboration with Cambodia’s
NCHADS, a partnership whose goal is to bring 3,000 Cambodians living with
HIV/AIDS into treatment over the next five years. Tomorrow — Saturday, April
1st — a separate ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at another new free
AIDS treatment clinic to be located at the Preah Ket Mealea Hospital in Phnom
Penh. This collaboration was formalized in an additional MOU between AHF and
the Preah Ket Mealea Hospital of the Royal Government of Cambodia, and its
goal is to bring medical care and anti-retroviral treatment to an additional
300 Cambodians.

The free OI and ART sites supported by AHF will be located at Kampong Thom
Referral Hospital in Kampong Thom Province, at Rattanakiri Referral Hospital
in Ratanakiri Province and at Stung Treng Referral Hospital in Stung Treng
Province AHF will assist the local partners to provide OI and ART with high
quality of HIV/AIDS care to patients at these three Referral Hospitals.
The first case of HIV infection in Cambodia was reported in 1991 and was
followed by a rapid rise in transmission. Cambodia’s national HIV prevalence
rate — around 3% in 1997 but decreasing to 1.9% in 2003 — is understood to
be one of the highest in Asia.

"We welcome the presence of AHF as one of the new partners for increasing
the access to ART. This contribution is critical for moving towards the
Universal Access to Care and Treatment for PLHA in Cambodia," said Dr. Mean
Chhi Vun, Director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STI
Control.

"This collaboration will include innovative medical and non-medical
interventions; provide technical support and training resources to increase
and strengthen the diagnostic and treatment capacity and skills of HIVAIDS,
ART treatment services providers in Cambodia," said Henry E. Chang, AHF Chief
of Global Affairs in a statement from the AHF Global secretariat in Amsterdam.
"AHF has significant expertise and experience in ART service delivery and
skills and capacity building related to HIVAIDS 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 in Cambodia."

"We recognize the important and laudable efforts undertaken by the
Government of Cambodia to treat its people living with AIDS and to arrest and
eliminate the HIVAIDS epidemic in Cambodia," 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 we are honored to partner with the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of
Cambodia and the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STI Control to
support the government’s program to scale up HIVAIDS treatment through this
exciting initiative."

AHF, under its AHF Global program, has previously joined forces in
Asia — in India — (starting in July 2004) with Swami Vivekananda Youth
Movement (SVYM), to provide ART to patients at two clinic facilities in Mysore
and Koppal in Karnataka State in Southern India. As of January 2006, close to
400 clients were receiving life-saving anti-retroviral treatment and care
through the partnership’s clinic in Mysore in the Government District Hospital
as well as at the Koppal facility. AHF, which has more than 18 years
experience providing HIV/AIDS medical care at its clinics and hospice in the
US (and for over four years at its global clinics in Africa, Central America
and Asia) oversees the HIV/AIDS clinical care; SVYM, handles the social
service, organizational and operational needs on the local level.

AHF’s strategy is to provide support and technical assistance to ensure
the highest quality of care to patients at these two Indian facilities. This
includes the training and capacitating of local Indian groups to provide
adherence support and counseling, a key to the success of all of AHF’s global
ART delivery programs. In its new Cambodian partnership, AHF expects work in
close cooperation with the Ministry of Health and NCHADS to pursue similar
success in treatment and adherence.

Cambodia’s population is just over 14 million people. Approximately
123,100 (the latest sentinel surveillances survey in 2003) adults Cambodians
aged 15-49 years are thought to be living with HIV/AIDS, and of these,
10,537 are currently receiving anti-retroviral treatment. Nearly 20,000 (the
latest sentinel surveillances survey in 2003) are in urgent need of such
life-saving ART.

SOURCE AIDS Healthcare Foundation

/CONTACT: United States, Ged Kenslea, Communications Director,
+1-323-860-5225, or cell, +1-323-791-5526, gedk@aidshealth.org, or Lori
Yeghiayan, Communications Specialist, +1-323-860-5227, or cell,
+1-323-377-4312; or India, Chinkholal Thangsing, MD, Asia Pacific Bureau
Chief, +91.11. (0) 98.1827.0687, chinkholal.thangsing@aidshealth.org; or The
Netherlands, Henry Chang, Chief of Global Affairs, +1-917-400-8900,
henry.chang@aidshealth.org, all of AIDS Healthcare Foundation/