HIV/AIDS

Ford Foundation Grantees are Fighting HIV/AIDS around the World

[UPDATE] NEW YORK, 1 December 2006 -- As World AIDS Day is observed around the world, Ford Foundation grantees are working on five continents to help stem the spread of the pandemic and improve the lives of people living with the disease.

For two decades, the foundation has made grants through its regional field offices and New York headquarters to support grassroots efforts to fight HIV/AIDS. The foundation's grantees address the social, political and cultural factors that shape how the disease is spread and that stand in the way of adequate prevention and treatment.

Earlier this year, the foundation launched a new Global Initiative on HIV/AIDS to extend the impact of this work by bringing the knowledge and experience of local grantees to global dialogue and policy-making forums. This new $45 million commitment builds on the foundation's experience working with innovative grantees around the world.

Some examples of recent work:

South Africa Grantees

South Africa has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world, as well as reported cases of rape. A groundbreaking trial, funded by the Ford Foundation, offers poor South African women access to small loans and education programs. The trial has contributed a 55% drop in the incidence of domestic violence. www.thelancet.com

Additional support is provided to the Rural Aids and Development Action Research Project (RADAR) to work with the microfinance institution Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF), to address poverty, gender inequality and HIV/AIDS. www.wits.ac.za/Health/PublicHealth/Radar

The AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa receives support to develop a regional program to promote human rights throughout the HIV/AIDS community. www.arasa.info

The Treatment Action Campaign is funded to safeguard the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and increase their access to health services. www.tac.org.za

Grants also support the Legal Assistance Trust for its AIDS Law Unit, which advocates for Namibians affected by HIV/AIDS. www.lac.org.na/alu/default.htm And the AIDS LAW Project has received foundation support to establish a specialized research and litigation unit to help get access to affordable treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS. www.alp.org.za

Gulf Coast HIV/AIDS Relief Fund
In September 2005, Hurricane Katrina affected the lives of over 21,000 individuals living with the HIV and AIDS, according to state estimates. The foundation-supported Relief Fund makes grants to community organizations that provide critical health and social services to people living with the disease. In October, the fund announced $500,000 in grants to fifteen local nonprofits in the central and southern areas of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi that were directly affected by Hurricane Katrina. The funds will help aid these groups' long-term recovery and provide a stable source of effective HIV/AIDS services for residents of the region. www.aidsfund.org/naf/communityimpact/display.cfm?contentid=408

International Council of Women Living with HIV (Latin America and the Caribbean)
Young women are disproportionately at risk of infection of HIV, particularly in low and middle income communities where abuse and inequalities can increase their vulnerability and isolation. A grant from the foundation has helped support the first Latin American and Caribbean Congress of Women, Girls and Adolescents Living with HIV/AIDS. The meeting, which took place in October, was an opportunity for participants from across Latin America to make concrete recommendations about ways to strengthen prevention programs, reduce discrimination, and improve health and social programs for females and families dealing with the disease. www.icwlatina.org/ (In Spanish)

World AIDS Campaign
In recent years, governments, organizations and individuals have made ambitious commitments to help fight the spread of HIV/AIDS. A Ford Foundation grant helps the World AIDS Campaign educate people about these commitments and the need to hold governments and others accountable for results. The campaign also works around the world to secure new resources for the fights against HIV/AIDS, connect local leaders working on the disease, and increase the effectiveness of civil society organizations by encouraging partnership and collaboration. www.worldaidscampaign.info/

The Women's Collective
In the United States, women of color, particularly African-Americans, have been especially hard hit by the epidemic. A $600,000 grant from the Ford Foundation supports The Women's Collaborative, an organization that provides HIV care management and prevention services specially tailored to the needs of women and families. Ford's grant is helping extend the most effective of these services in additional communities throughout the United States. Foundation funds also support efforts to give women a stronger voice in national policy discussions about HIV/AIDS and to advocate for additional care and support services for women and families confronting the disease. womenscollective.org/

Yayasan Spiritia
Over the last four years, the foundation has supported the efforts of an Indonesian nonprofit organization known as Yayasan Spirtia to help unite Indonesians living with HIV and AIDS, many of whom have faced severe discrimination and isolation. As of May 2006, the group had helped create over 55 peer support groups in 22 provinces across the country. Yayasan Spiritia is now using funds from the foundation to create more of these groups - its goal is to establish at least one support group in each of the country's 36 provinces - and to promote partnerships between the group's members and the country's health ministry, national AIDS Commission, NGO sector and others. www.spiritia.or.id/

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For more information on the Ford Foundation's Global Initiative on HIV/AIDS, visit http://www.fordfound.org/news/more/hivaids/index.cfm

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The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.