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AHF: New AIDS Treatment Clinic to Open in Guatemala in Partnership With the Global Fund and Local Partners

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 July 2006, 09:01 CDT

QUETZALTENANGO, Guatemala and LOS ANGELES, July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest AIDS organization in the US which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Central America and Asia; and Asociacion de Investagacion, Desarollo y Educacion Integral (Association IDEI), a respected, local Guatemalan non-governmental organization (NGO), and Hospital National Dr. Rodolfo Robles de Quetzaltenango, a well-regarded government tertiary hospital which focuses on TB and other pulmonary diseases, have partnered together to open a new, free AIDS clinic in Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala, an area greatly in need of HIV/AIDS related treatment and care. The clinic will provide free, life-saving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to at least 200 people in the first eight months.

The clinic, AHF's first in Guatemala, will be dedicated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the morning of Wednesday, July 26th at 11:00am, followed by a medical symposium at 7:00pm for physicians from around Guatemala to discuss cutting-edge information on HIV and TB treatment and care. The clinic will be known as the Clinica de Atencion Dr. Isaac Cohen Alcahe, in honor of a well-known local physician who worked 33 years in Hospital Rodolfo Robles and was a leader in TB DOTS therapy in Guatemala, and is in an outpatient consultancy wing of Hospital National Dr. Rodolfo Robles located Diagonal 11 D8-03, Zona 1, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, C.A.

"AHF is now providing HIV/AIDS treatment and care in more than 15 countries around the world and it is with great excitement that we open this new HIV/AIDS clinic in the highlands of Guatemala, only the fourth center across the country to offer free integrated care for people living with HIV/AIDS, including life-saving ARVs," said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "This clinic has been made possible through a partnership with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and local partners including the Association IDEI and Hospital National Dr. Rodolfo Robles. This partnership will bring much needed treatment, care and support to an HIV positive population greatly in need."

"Placing an HIV/AIDS treatment clinic in the outpatient wing of a tertiary TB and pulmonary hospital in a TB endemic region of the world is an innovative and cutting-edge approach to a complex epidemiological dilemma," said Dr. Scott Howell, AHF Latin American/Caribbean Bureau Chief. "This is one of the first such integrated treatment models in Latin America, and we anticipate it will prove to be an effective and successful program that will be replicated throughout the world to help those in need. Of the 42 million people living with HIV/AIDS around the world approximately one-third, 14 million, are co-infected with TB. According to PAHO approximately eight percent of all HIV positive persons in Guatemala are co-infected with TB."

Guatemala's HIV/AIDS epidemic is growing rapidly and is especially severe among at-risk populations such as men who have sex with men and commercial sex workers. The epidemic is concentrated in urban areas and along the major transportation corridors. The Guatemalan epidemic is spread primarily through sexual activity. UNAIDS (2004) cites that among all reported AIDS cases, 75 percent were transmitted heterosexually, and 17 percent were transmitted via men who have sex with men. Tuberculosis is endemic to the Southwestern region of Guatemala, with 113 TB positive patients per 100,000 people.

MEDIA ADVISORY WHAT: Grand Opening of New, Free AIDS Clinic in Quetzaltenango (Ribbon-cutting & Evening Medical Symposium) WHEN: Ribbon Cutting and Clinic Dedication: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 11:00 hours. Medical Symposium: "HIV/TB and Advances in Treatment and Care" Wednesday, July 26 18:00 hours. WHERE: Ribbon Cutting: 11:00 hours La Clinica de Atencion Integral Dr. Isaac Cohen Alcahe, Outpatient consultancy of the Hospital Nacional Dr. Rodolfo Robles Diagonal 11 D8-03, Zona 1, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, C.A. Medical Symposium: 18:00 hours "HIV/TB and Advances in Treatment and Care" 'Salon de Tenis' del Club Tenis de Quetzaltenango WHO: Licda. Janet Ikeda, Executive Director, Association IDEI; Licda. Annelise de Salazar, Director for the National STI and HIV/AIDS Program; Dr. Quijivix, Director Hospital National Dr. Rodolfo Robles de Quetzaltenango; Michael Weinstein, President, AIDS Healthcare Foundation; Dr. Scott Howell, Latin American/Caribbean Bureau Chief, AIDS Healthcare Foundation; Dr. Eduardo Arathoon, Clinical Director of Clinica Familiar Luis Angel Garcia; (And others) Treatment Begins:

The Clinica de Atencion Integral Dr. Isaac Cohen Alcahe is funded by a grant from Round 3 of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. AHF was approached by Association IDEI in September 2005 to join together to write a proposal for funds to bring AIDS treatment and care to Quetzaltenango, the second largest city in Guatemala. The partners of the project are AHF, IDEI and Hospital National Dr. Rodolfo Robles (Hospital Robles). Hospital Robles will provide the space for the clinic in an outpatient wing of the TB hospital. This is a ministry hospital and has both an inpatient and outpatient section. Association IDEI will provide adherence and education, voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) for TB positive patients, nutritional support, psychosocial support, outreach and monitoring and evaluation. AHF's role in the new clinic is to provide medical management and technical assistance for the care and treatment of HIV and HIV-TB co-infection and the provision of ARVs. AHF will also provide VCT for non-TB patients that walk into the clinic.

The clinic has a target of scaling up to 210 patients on ART by the end of February 2007.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation

CONTACT: US Contact, Ged Kenslea, Communications Director,+1-323-860-5225, or +1-323-791-5526, or Guatemala Contact, Marissa Parsons,Global Program Development Coordinator, +502.5763.7651, both of AIDSHealthcare Foundation

Source: PRNewswire

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