AHF Now Treating 200,000 Patients Worldwide

LOS ANGELES --(Business Wire)--

For more than 25 years, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has been making HIV/AIDS treatment, testing, and advocacy accessible and affordable to everyone and anyone who needs it. What began as a grassroots action launched in Los Angeles in 1987 has since grown to a worldwide organization operating in 28 countries around the globe. The Foundation has now surpassed an inspirational milestone: more than 200,000 clients are currently registered with AHF and are receiving accessible treatment or care in their country.

"All of us at AHF are proud to have reached this significant milestone and want to express our gratitude to the staff, partners, patients, supporters and all members of the AHF community around the world for making it possible," said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "While we commemorate this moment as a landmark accomplishment, it is also a solemn reminder of those who remain without access to lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment and of how much work there is still to be done. We will not stop until every person living with HIV is receiving treatment and we see zero new infections and zero deaths from HIV/AIDS."

To commemorate the 200,000 patient milestone, AHF released a video today titled "Everyone 1 Counts" that includes testimonials from AHF HIV/AIDS patients from around the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch feature=player_embedded&v=Gd6NN0jSYl8

AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION: A Brief History

When it began in 1987, AHF was the AIDS Hospice Foundation, and the main operational objective was to provide specialized hospice care for people living with AIDS, a disease that, at that time, was considered a death sentence. AHF advocated tirelessly for the rights f people suffering from HIV/AIDS to die with dignity and as little pain as possible in an accepting environment.

The Chris Brownlie Hospice opened on December 26, 1988 - the first specialized AIDS hospice in Los Angeles, named for one of the co-founders of AHF, writer and activist Chris Brownlie, who passed away from AIDS less than a year after the opening of that hospice. Two additional AHF hospices, Carl Bean House and Linn House, opened in 1992 and 1995, respectively.

As medical opportunities for managing HIV became more available, AHF changed its mission from providing compassionate care to people dying from HIV/AIDS to helping them live well with the disease through advanced medical care. This philosophical shift was marked with the change of the Foundation's name to AIDS Healthcare Foundation in July 1990. The new focus on healthcare led to the founding of AHF Healthcare Centers, Wellness Centers, and the Positive Care Network, the nation's first capitated managed care program for people living with HIV.

In July 2000, AHF attended the International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, where members of the Foundation joined with local partners and activists to provide testing to South Africans in Durban. The following year, AHF Global was established, and in 2002 the organization's first healthcare clinic outside of the United States - the Ithembalabantu "People's Hope" Clinic - opened in Durban, South Africa.

Today, AHF's global program provides services in 28 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and work in many more countries is currently being developed through local partnerships with government and non-government organizations. This global coordination results in lifesaving treatment and care for AHF's 202,779 clients - and "Every 1 Counts".

Born in the U.S.A. - AHF serves over 35,000 U.S. clients

The Foundation currently operates 13 Wellness Centers and 22 Healthcare Centers in the United States, where 35,709 clients are receiving treatment and care services. Previously, AHF only offered healthcare services in California and Florida, but the opening of the AHF Blair Underwood Healthcare Center in Washington, D.C. in September of 2009 was the beginning of a rapid U.S. expansion.

Targeting the heightened prevalence of HIV diagnoses in Midwestern and southern states, AHF opened two healthcare centers in Texas, one in Georgia, and one in Ohio in 2012. On Valentine's Day 2013, the Foundation expanded its care in Ohio with the opening of a Wellness Center in Columbus that offers treatment for all STDs. Also forthcoming are openings in Mississippi and Louisiana.

"Many areas of the Deep South carry a disproportionate share of new HIV cases, are often the least funded, and are often overlooked," said Rodney Wright, the Chair of AHF's Board of Directors. "I am happy that AHF is attempting to fill that need by continued expansion into these areas."

About AHF

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare provider in the USA. AHF currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 200,000 individuals in 28 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Asia. Additional information is available at www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook (News - Alert): www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert): @AIDSHealthcare