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Our 2008 research
beneficiaries are the Harvard
School of Public Health AIDS
Initiative and the AIDS
Research Institute at the
University of California/San
Francisco, two the of the world’s top AIDS research institutes; conducting
innovative research into new
treatments with the potential
to save millions of lives in
Africa and Asia; and providing
the critically needed training
for a new generation of African
health professionals.
Our three New
York State service providers, AIDS Community
Services of Western New York; AIDS Rochester; AIDS Community
Resources, serving Central
New York, provide life-saving
counseling, disease management
skills, prevention programs
and housing assistance for people
with HIV/AIDS here at home.
Learn more about
their work, or click on their
logos to access each organization's
website.
Harvard
AIDS Initiative
The Harvard School
of Public Health AIDS Initiative
(HAI) is dedicated to research
and education to end the AIDS
epidemic in
Africa and developing countries.
Much of HAI’s
current work is done in the
southern African country of
Botswana, which has the second
highest rate of HIV infection
in the world: approximately
24%, or one in four adults,
is HIV-positive.
In the face
of this national crisis, Botswana
announced in 2001 that it would
provide antiretroviral (ARV)
therapy free of charge to all
qualifying patients. This initiative,
without precedent in Africa,
posed a significant challenge
to Botswana’s already overburdened
healthcare system.
With the help
of HAI and others, Botswana
now provides free ARVs to 90%
of the people who need them.
HAI has been instrumental in
helping to scale-up treatment
programs by training doctors,
nurses and healthcare workers.
Together, HAI
and the Government of Botswana
built the Botswana-Harvard HIV
Reference Laboratory, a state-of-the-art
research and monitoring facility
in the capital city of Gaborone.
The lab processes thousands
of blood samples a day, providing
the high-volume testing and
monitoring required for large
scale-HIV interventions. In
addition, scientists at the
lab conduct pioneering HIV research,
with practical applications
for Botswana and the rest of
Africa.
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Dr. Sheila Tlou and Dr. Max Essex |
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HAI is lead
by Dr. Max Essex, an internationally
recognized leader in HIV/AIDS
research. Essex has been involved
in AIDS research since the start
of the epidemic. His work includes
groundbreaking contributions
to the pathogenesis of HIV/AIDS,
the means of transmission, and
the identification of biological
markers of HIV. Max Essex is
committed to working with and
training African scientists
and has established innovative
research collaborations in Senegal,
Tanzania and Botswana. Young
researchers from developing
countries train at the Essex
lab in Boston.
HAI’s current efforts focus
on finding the most effective
drug regimens for treating patients,
the increasing problem of drug
resistance, and new interventions
to prevent mother-to-child transmission
of HIV.
Funds raised by ESAR riders
will be used for HAI’s research
in the prevention and treatment
of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
AIDS
Research Institute at UCSF
The AIDS Research
Institute (ARI) coordinates
and integrates all AIDS research
activities at the University
of California, San Francisco.
The ARI stimulates innovation
and supports interdisciplinary
collaboration aimed at all aspects
of the epidemic domestically
and around the world. Bringing
together hundreds of scientists
and more than 50 programs from
throughout the university and
affiliated labs and institutions,
and working in close collaboration
with affected communities, the
ARI is one of the premier AIDS
research entities in the world.
Funds raised by
the Breakthrough Riders will
go to the ARI’s Breakthrough
Fund which provides seed money
to be strategically invested
in promising research at its
earliest stages—innovative projects
that lead to the kinds of breakthroughs
that make a tremendous difference
in the fight against HIV/AIDS,
such as life-saving protease
inhibitors whose initial discovery
was made here at UCSF by our
own Charles Craik Laboratory.
These drugs form the cornerstone
of the “cocktail” that has prolonged
thousands of lives since the
mid-1990s. The Breakthrough
Fund enables cutting-edge research
that will eventually stop AIDS.
Help us build a team to accomplish
the most important breakthrough
of all – a cure to AIDS.
Mission Statement
The AIDS Research Institute
at UCSF is committed to fostering
innovative and integrated science—basic,
clinical, prevention, and policy
research—to prevent, understand,
treat, and someday cure HIV
infection; rapid dissemination
of our findings; and training
new scientists to continue working
toward our ultimate goal of
ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
AIDS Community Resources
Through its staff and volunteers, AIDS Community Resources responds to
the AIDS epidemic by working to:
• Prevent the incidence of HIV infection
• Enhance the quality of life for people infected with/affected by HIV/AIDS
• Collaborate in communities to address HIV/AIDS-related needs
• in the Central, Northern, and Mohawk Valley regions of New York State
• Facilitate access to available resources and End discrimination
AIDS Rochester
“I could go on for days telling you what ARI has done for me. It was they who jumped seemingly insurmountable hurdles to get me approved for Medicaid, who drove me to rehab and brought my family to see me every weekend. I will never forget that act of kindness. That was the start of me rejoining the human race and finally becoming a man. I joined ARI 17 years ago and it was a decision that I have never regretted. To sum it up, thank goodness for ARI!”
-- Note from an HIV+ AIDS Rochester client
Helping families impacted by HIV stay healthy
Most of AIDS Rochester’s clients are impoverished and have numerous other problems in their lives such as mental health problems, domestic violence, substance abuse, medication side effects, disabilities including deafness, blindness, and other physical disabilities. Of the 1,000 HIV+ people AIDS Rochester serves per year, over half of them are parents of children who also need our support.
Getting clients’ lives stabilized so they can attend to their medications and medical care is crucial since we are now able to keep people healthier longer. This is evidenced by the fact that before the new medications were available, and while we had half the caseload we do now, we were losing over 7 clients per month. While we have made so many gains and seen the death rate drop dramatically from the devastation AIDS wrought in the 80’s and 90’s, we still lose 2 clients per month. That is 2 too many!
Prevention is still the only cure!
We take AIDS Rochester’s innovative prevention programs to the street where we focus life-saving interventions on high risk youth, women, men who have sex with men, abd substance users.
When ARI started it’s syringe exchange program 13 years ago, 1/3 of the participants were HIV+. This life-saving program is so effective that only 1 participant has become newly HIV+ in the last 6 years. These people are engaging in the most high risk behavior possible for contracting HIV but our program allows them to do it safely. This means less people spreading HIV to their needle sharing and sexual partners. Monroe County Department of Health publicly credits this program with the significant drop in people contracting HIV from injecting drug use in our area.
This is what your vital funds allow AIDS Rochester to do:
· Provide stable quality housing for 1 family for 1 year so that they can concentrate on accessing life saving medical care
· Provide transportation for 60 clients in Rochester’s urban area so that they can access medical care, mental health and substance abuse treatment, group meals, and support groups
· Provide 325 trips for HIV+ individuals who reside in our 7 rural counties who often have to travel several hours to Rochester to access specialized care
· Provide 2,900 bags of groceries and 2,500 hot meals to HIV+ people for whom good nutrition is a key element in maintaining health
· A prevention specialist will counsel 200 HIV+ clients about how to ensure they do not spread HIV to others
· A referral specialist in ARI’s syringe exchange program will hook 200 high risk people up with life-stabilizing services such as financial assistance, medical insurance, housing, substance abuse treatment and medical care
· Provide oversight and coordination of 50 volunteers that make ARI’s services more cost effective
· Educate clients, their loved ones, donors, media, legislators, those engaging in high risk behaviors, and the general public about the most critical issues that impact AIDS Rochester’s ability to fulfill it’s vision: “A WORLD WITHOUT HIV”
AIDS Community Services
AIDS Community Services is a not-for-profit community-based organization committed to ending the AIDS epidemic and minimizing its effects in the eight counties of Western New York. We provide medical, supportive and prevention services in a comprehensive model that encourages individuals to take responsibility for their health and quality of life. We are committed to developing partnerships with other providers to develop and maintain healthy communities. This mission is derived from our core values that include:
Access; Communication; Confidentiality; Innovation & Change; Personal Responsibility; Professionalism; Quality Services and Respect for Diversity
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