Thailand: Partners Join In New Free Aids Treatment Center In Lop Buri

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Thailand: Partners Join in New Free AIDS Treatment Center in Lop Buri

Thailand's Lop Buri Provincial Government, the Dramaraksa Foundation and AIDS Healthcare Foundation will formalize agreement in ceremony Tuesday, July 03, 2007rd; The Antiretroviral Treatment Project will be known as the 'Wat Phrabatnampo- Center of Hope'

LOP BURI PROVINCE, Thailand, July 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Provincial Government, Lop Buri Province, Thailand; the Dramaraksa Foundation- Wat Phrabatnampo, and AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) are honored to announce that they are forming a new partnership to provide free, lifesaving HIV/AIDS care and treatment, including antiretroviral treatment (ART), to socio- economically disadvantaged people living with advanced AIDS in Lop Buri Province, Thailand. The partnership will be recognized and celebrated in a formal signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Lop Buri on Tuesday July 3rd. Treatment sites in this collaboration will be known as "Centers of Hope," and each will support the Provincial Government's intention to expand and scale-up delivery of standard antiretroviral treatment, care and support services to those people in need in Lop Buri Province.

"It is a great privilege for AIDS Healthcare Foundation to partner in the Kingdom of Thailand with the Provincial Government in Lop Buri and the Dramaraksa Foundation to establish 'Centers of Hope.' Over the next five years, AHF's Asia Pacific Bureau in close collaboration with the Provincial Health Department and the Dramaraksa Foundation will provide antiretroviral treatment, medical care and support services at the centers extending life and bringing hope for people living with HIV/AIDS," said Dr. Chinkholal Thangsing, Asia/Pacific Bureau Chief for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the US' largest HIV/AIDS healthcare and prevention and education provider, which operates more than 40 free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia. "I would like to offer thanks not only to our partners, but also to Wora Booncherd, President of the Kasetsart University Alumni Association, USA and the Board of Directors and Oraphan Boonthong in Bangkok, for first introducing us to the Wat Phrabatnampo-Dramaraksa Foundation Hospice Care program, and for educating us as to the tremendous need for such treatment and compassionate care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand."

"Through this collaboration, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the Dramaraksa Foundation and the Lop Buri Provincial Government's Department of Health intend to create a community model for the delivery of high quality HIV/AIDS treatment and care services for people living with HIV/AIDS in Lop Buri," added Mr. Suwat Tantipat, Lop Buri Provincial Governor. "The partners will begin by establishing a model ART Center in Lop Buri which will provide holistic and innovative medical treatment and care services, non-medical interventions such as psychosocial counseling, hands-on training, skills and capacity-building services and education programs for HIV/AIDS treatment services providers."

"As part of this partnership, the Dramaraksa Foundation will provide AHF with infrastructure, space and basic services at the centers in order to help AHF provide high quality HIV treatment care and support services for people living with HIV/AIDS in Lop Buri Province," said Dr. Wichai Thaitaworn, Director of the Dramaraksa Foundation. "We will also provide logistical local support; assist in the recruitment of personnel and other necessary support to AHF to ensure smooth functioning of the collaborative ART center. The Dramaraksa Foundation will also provide services to increase community HIV/AIDS awareness, assist in the provision of outreach services to increase knowledge of HIV/AIDS, ART treatment education and conduct follow up when possible to ensure adherence and success of this new collaborative ART treatment program."

Lop Buri Province

Lop Buri Province, one of the central provinces of Thailand, is located on the east side of the Chao Phraya River Valley, between the Lopburi River and Pa Sak Rivers. The province is subdivided into 11 districts. The districts are further subdivided into 124 sub-districts and 1110 villages. The province has a population of roughly 750,000.

HIV/AIDS in Thailand

According to the website, http://www.avert.org, "There are very few developing countries in the world where public policy has been effective in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS on a national scale, but Thailand is an exception. A massive programme to control HIV has reduced visits to commercial sex workers by half, raised condom usage, decreased the prevalence of STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections) dramatically, and achieved substantial reductions in new HIV infections. Its well funded, politically supported and comprehensive prevention programmes have saved millions of lives, reducing the number of new HIV infections from 143,000 in 1991 to 19,000 in 2003. Nonetheless, more than 1-in-100 adults today in this country of 65 million people are infected with HIV, and AIDS has become a leading cause of death."

"Thailand has long been recognized as a leader in the worldwide fight against AIDS, and we are honored to have been invited to bring AHF's clinical experience and expertise to join in this battle to help save the lives of its people," said Michael Weinstein, AIDS Healthcare Foundation's President. "We at AHF have been particularly impressed with how the Government of Thailand has fought back and stoically stood up to multi-national pharmaceutical companies' seemingly arbitrary drug pricing policies for lifesaving antiretroviral therapies. As for the new 'Center of Hope' in Lop Buri, we sincerely thank all who were involved in arranging and approving this exciting new partnership."

"The approval of this new partnership is a major milestone for each organization involved, and we are eager to implement the care and treatment activities outlined in the memorandum of understanding as soon as possible," said Henry E. Chang, AHF Chief of Global Affairs. "It is our wish that this inaugural Wat Phrabatnampo-Center of Hope treatment facility in Lop Buri -- AHF's first treatment site in Thailand -- will be the first of many in the partnership, and we hope that it may also serve as a beacon of hope for the possibility of treatment access for many of those living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand today."

The signing of the memorandum of understanding will take place in a ceremony on the 3rd of July, 2007, at 15:00 at City Hall, Lop Buri, Thailand.

Source: Pharmalive

[seonai]

This is great news. I remember when the Abbot of Wat Phrabatnampo started treating AIDS patients himself, he used to do all the work as no one else would touch them! Wonderful man. So happy to see that he's got this support.