The Pfizer Foundation has announced the names of 20 US community-based AIDS service organizations (ASOs) chosen to participate in ConnectHIV, the Foundation's latest initiative to support organizations working to stop the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS. ConnectHIV integrates lessons learned from the Southern HIV/AIDS prevention initiative, the Foundation's recently completed 3-year prevention initiative to support small-to-mid-sized organizations in multicultural communities in the South. Through ConnectHIV, the Foundation is providing $7.5 million in grants, technical assistance and networking resources over three years to ASOs that take a comprehensive approach to HIV prevention, access to care and treatment.
ASOs chosen to receive grants through ConnectHIV serve communities that are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS and are based in the 10 states with the highest number of new AIDS cases as reported by the CDC in 2004: New York, Florida, California, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina.
"The Pfizer Foundation is providing national leadership by promoting evidence-based approaches and is strongly supporting community leadership by granting funds to community-based service providers that know best how to reach those most at risk for infection and those most in need of care-related services," said Frank Beadle de Palomo, senior vice president and director, global HIV/AIDS programs, Academy for Educational Development (AED). "AED is proud to be an evaluation partner for such a visionary program".
To measure the impact of ConnectHIV, AED and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health are partnering with the Pfizer Foundation to evaluate behaviour change within the ASO communities. Behaviours that will be evaluated include actions around HIV testing, safe sex negotiation, disclosure of HIV status, condom use, access to substance abuse treatment services and support, adherence to medication and regular visits to healthcare providers. The evaluation will also measure cost-effectiveness of program interventions to understand how to maximize the health benefits of any given investment in the HIV prevention and care continuum.
"The HIV epidemic is far from over in the US, and comprehensive approaches to HIV/AIDS care and prevention are needed. The Pfizer Foundation model is to be strongly commended in this regard, and I am pleased to be an evaluation partner in this very important project," said David Holtgrave, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Health, Behaviour and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
HIV/AIDS remains an urgent domestic health crisis with HIV infection rates in the US remaining steady over the past 15 years. The CDC reports that approximately 40,000 Americans become HIV-positive each year and one-quarter of HIV-infected Americans do not yet know they are infected. Infections from this group are believed to account for more than half of new HIV infections each year. The Institute of Medicine estimates that up to approximately 49 per cent of the people with HIV/AIDS in the US do not receive regular care for the disease.
"These organizations are leaders in the HIV/AIDS community," said Robert Mallett, president of the Pfizer Foundation. "We are pleased that the grants will support their outstanding work in providing much-needed care and services. Pfizer understands that prevention and care efforts need to target both HIV+ and high-risk HIV- individuals, and is critical in decreasing new infections."