Second–line AIDS Drugs to Activists in India

[Guest guest]

Unavailable at NACO ART Centers, Group Provides Patients Free

Second-line ART

NEW DELHI (November 6, 2007) AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which

operates free AIDS treatment clinics in India (as AHF/India Cares)

that provide treatment, care and support services to over 5,000 Indian

clients, is honored to announce that it is also now providing

lifesaving second-line antiretroviral treatment (ART) free to Indian

AIDS activists whose initial, or first-line, AIDS drug regimens have

failed them.

As AIDS treatment access has increased in India, Africa and elsewhere in the

developing world, the need for access to more effective—and currently more

costly—second-line AIDS drug therapies has increased dramatically. And as an

increasing number of patients are developing resistance to their initial AIDS

drug regimens, the need to switch to more clinically-appropriate treatment

regimens has become a critical priority.

2.5 million people are now estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS in

India today.

India's National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) is currently providing

first-line ART to slightly more than 100,000 people living with HIVAIDS.

However, for those patients needing second-line AIDS treatment, NACO does not

provide such potentially lifesaving AIDS treatments.

India's media recently reported that NACO-provided first-line treatment is

failing up to 50% of HIV/AIDS patients in Delhi, and the number in need of

second-line treatment is

increasing daily.

AHF/India Cares operates AIDS care treatment and support centers in

Mysore, New Delhi and in Guwahati, Assam State in partnership with

NACO. Since March 2007, AHF/India Cares has been providing free

second-line ART to AIDS activists and clients in need; today this

initiative has added a new lease on life for 30 patients who had

formerly been cared for and provided their first-line antiretroviral

treatment at the NACO ART centers.

" I am pleased that AHF/India Cares has been able to provide these few

patients with access to much-needed second-line treatment, but

extremely saddened that the need in India is so much greater than we,

or any one NGO care provider, could possibly meet, " said Chinkholal

Thangsing, M.D., Asia Pacific Bureau Chief for the AIDS Healthcare

Foundation, and who is based in New Delhi. " As an HIV/AIDS medical

treatment provider, I see firsthand how the full spectrum of AIDS

treatment can improve and save the lives of people living with

HIVAIDS. I strongly urge NACO to begin delivery of second-line AIDS

treatment throughout India. "

" I started my first-line ARV medicines in 2001, but after five years,

first-line drugs were not working and I was admitted in hospital for a

long stay—four months, " said Kumar, a Delhi resident who has known he

was HIV positive for seven years, and whose CD4 count was zero when he

first tested. " According to the doctors, I needed to take second-line

treatment to save my life. I came to know about AHF from NACO and at

AHF they started me on second-line drugs, within one month I was

better already. I would like to give a message to our government that

they should pay some attention and increase their involvement in

getting second-line treatment to those who need it. "

" Without access to second-line therapies, I would not be alive today " ,

said Francisco Xavier De Melo, President of Love Life Society

(Consortium of People with HIVAIDS). " I am very lucky, as very few

people in India have access to second-line therapy. It is too

expensive—but it is a matter of life and death for many of us.

Positive people throughout India look to NACO to start delivery of

such lifesaving second-line treatments urgently. "

" AIDS Healthcare Foundation stands in solidarity with the advocates

and people of India in urging NACO to launch the provision of

second-line therapies immediately, " said Terri Ford, AHF Director of

Global Advocacy. " In our own clinic in New Delhi, we are trying to

save the lives of activists in need of these medications so that they

can remain healthy and continue their courageous fight for treatment

for all. We know that Treatment Saves Lives and the time is now " .

…………………………………………………………………………

About AHF/India Cares

AHF/India Cares centers provide testing, psycho-social support

services and anti-retroviral treatment including both pediatric and

second-line treatment. The facilities provide comprehensive HIVAIDS

care and treatment and holistic services, and serve as one-stop shops

for people living with HIVAIDS (PLHAs).

In the Asia/Pacific region, AIDS Healthcare Foundation currently

provides free anti-retroviral treatment services to people in need

through its clinics in India, Thailand, Viet Nam, Cambodia and China.

About AHF

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the US' largest non-profit

HIV/AIDS healthcare, research, prevention and education provider. AHF

currently provides treatment, care and support services to more than

61,000 individuals in 19 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin

America/Caribbean and Asia. Additional information is available at

www.aidshealth.org

CONTACTS:

INDIA

Chinkholal Thangsing, MD,

Asia Pacific Bureau Chief, AHF Global (New Delhi)

+91.98.1827.0687 mobile

chinkholal.thangsing@...

Terri Ford, Director of Global Advocacy

AIDS Healthcare Foundation

+91.99.5867.4604 mobile

Terrif@...

UNITED STATES

Ged Kenslea, Communications Director

AIDS Healthcare Foundation

+1.323.860.5225 work +1.323.791.5526 mobile

gedk@...

Lori Yeghiayan, Assoc. Dir Communications

AIDS Healthcare Foundation

+1.323.860.5227 work +1.323.377.4312

lori.yeghiayan@...