As both cost containment of care and services and treatment-as-prevention gain greater prominence in the global fight against HIV/AIDS during the Vienna AIDS Conference, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which currently provides AIDS medical care to more than 139,000 individuals in 23 countries worldwide, will host a satellite session today, July 21st, titled "Test and Treat: Getting to 10 Million on ARVs" (IAC Mini Room #5 at 6:30pm) preceded by a press conference (5pm, Media Center, Room PCR #2). The satellite session will also include the screening of a new documentary short "If Not Now…" by award-winning film maker Louise Hogarth which focuses on AHF's successful 2009 Testing Millions World AIDS Day testing campaign which tested 4.3M people for HIV.
“Our world AIDS Day testing campaigns over the past two years have helped shatter myths about testing models and we are honored to share what we've learned from these campaigns and learn what our distinguished panelists have to share here in Vienna”
'Test & Treat: Getting to 10 Million on ARVs' panelists and press conference participants include:
Dr. Brian Williams, formerly of the World Health Organization/South African Centre for Epidemiological Modeling and Analysis, and who is a senior author of 'Lancet' published article: "Universal Voluntary HIV Testing with Immediate ARV Therapy as a Strategy for Elimination of HIV Transmission: a Mathematical Model."
Dr. Penninah Iutung-Amor, Chief of the Africa Bureau for AIDS Healthcare Foundation and who oversees treatment provision to 90,000 people and 500,000 annual HIV tests in seven countries throughout Africa. At an AHF press conference on Monday at the Vienna conference on the topic of the US' waning commitment to PEPFAR, the US' landmark global AIDS program, Dr. Iutung-Amor said, "I urge people to come to Uganda to see firsthand how we deliver lifesaving quality care and treatment to HIV/AIDS patients in a cost-effective manner."
Dr. Aza Rakhmanova, Chief Infectious Disease Specialist/St. Petersburg City Health Committee and Deputy Director/ St. Petersburg City AIDS Center, is a long-time, respected advocate who recently lead the first rapid HIV testing event in St. Petersburg.
Dr. Sophia Mengistu, Country Director/Ethiopia, Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO), HIV-specialist pediatrician who spearheads innovative testing and treatment efforts for adults and children in Ethiopia.
In addition, Jenny Boyce, a South African AIDS treatment advocate and mother of three who has been on lifesaving treatment since 2004 at AHF's Ithembalabantu (Zulu for 'people's hope') Clinic in Umlazi, Durban will speak on the role anti-retroviral treatment has played in her life.
Moderators for the satellite session will be Dr. Jorge Saavedra, Chief of Global Affairs for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and Terri Ford, AHF's Senior Director of Global Policy and Advocacy, who recently oversaw AHF's 2009 'Testing Millions' campaign, AHF's successful World AIDS Day HIV testing campaign, which tested 4,270,226 people in 23 countries. The 'Testing Millions' campaign is the focus of a 34 minute documentary short film titled "If Not Now…" by filmmaker Louise Hogarth, which will be shown as part of the 'Test and Treat' satellite session.
"Our world AIDS Day testing campaigns over the past two years have helped shatter myths about testing models and we are honored to share what we've learned from these campaigns and learn what our distinguished panelists have to share here in Vienna," said AHF's Terri Ford. "Advances in rapid testing technology combined with a real eagerness by thousands and thousands of people around the world to access HIV testing services spurred us to completely rethink our testing and counseling model. As consensus builds that both cost containment and treatment-as-prevention must play larger roles in the global AIDS fight, the 'Test and Treat' model that we are discussing today offers a straightforward yet crucial roadmap to vastly scaling up the number of those on treatment. This is a real matter of life and death for men, women and children around the world. We must hear their call -- they want to be tested - to know their status and to stay alive. It is up to us to act quickly to save their lives."
Historical redlining continues to affect HIV treatment in affected communities