National AIDS Fund Announces Major Grants, Enabling More Than 35 Community-Based Organizations to Help Improve Access to HIV Care in their Communities , Bristol-Myers Squibb
Release Date: 2010-05-13
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National AIDS Fund (NAF) announced today the awarding of major grants that will enable more than 35 community-based organizations to help improve access to care for people living with HIV/AIDS in five regions of the United States – Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y., Oakland / San Francisco, Calif., and the states of North Carolina and Louisiana. The grant awards provide an opportunity for geographically and culturally diverse organizations within a region to combine their expertise in the development of community-driven solutions to help enable greater access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment. The community grants were made possible through a separate grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) to NAF.In the United States, Bristol-Myers Squibb estimates that there are 640,000* people with HIV who are not receiving HIV treatment. Recognizing that there are personal, societal and structural barriers that may prevent people from accessing care, NAF and Bristol-Myers Squibb entered into an unprecedented collaboration, which combines both financial resources and technical expertise to reach communities and to help facilitate changes to enhance access to care for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). This collaboration is one of the key components of Positive Charge, a Bristol-Myers Squibb initiative launched in December 2009 to help break down the barriers that prevent PLWHA from receiving HIV care, appropriate treatment and necessary support.
“We are deeply honored to have been invited to the White House today with Bristol-Myers Squibb to participate in this important dialogue on the critical role public-private partnerships, like our collaboration on Positive Charge, will play in the forthcoming National HIV/AIDS Strategy,” said Ferree. “Many people are under the impression that HIV/AIDS is no longer an issue in the United States. However, with thousands of people in our country living with HIV not linked to care, we, as business and philanthropic leaders, have an obligation to help remove the barriers they face so they can access the HIV-specific care they need.”
“We know this work is complex, but we need to work together to break down the barriers to HIV care for people living with HIV and AIDS,” said Hooper. “Bristol-Myers Squibb is committed to developing innovative medicines to meet the unmet medical needs of people living with HIV and AIDS, but we know that medicines alone cannot solve the problem. We have to work together to help break down the personal, societal and structural barriers that prevent people from accessing medically appropriate care. We need organizations like the National AIDS Fund and their grantees to engage communities to design programs to meet their specific needs. Our hope is that Positive Charge can deliver meaningful contributions that will inspire others to implement similar programs and truly impact the course of the HIV epidemic in this country.”
| Type: | NORMAL |
| Company: | Bristol-Myers Squibb |
| Country: | United States of America |