AIDS Healthcare Foundation, NCHADS To Open 7th ART Center In Cambodia

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest AIDS organization in the US, which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, and Asia, has announced the opening of its newest free AIDS treatment center in Cambodia.

The facility, AHF's seventh in the country, opened on Nov 21 in Pea Reang with a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony at the facility at the Pea Reang Referral Hospital in Prey Veng Province.

The Cambodian clinics are a partnership between AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia and Cambodia's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STI Control (NCHADS).

The partnership aims to provide life-saving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to people living with HIV/AIDS in Cambodia in care centers in the Operational

Districts (OD) of several provinces throughout the country.

Other ART centers in the partnership in Cambodia include sites in Phnom Penh, and in the provinces of Kandal, Kampong Thom, Kampot, Stung Treng and Svay Rieng.

Said Chinkholal Thangsing, Asia Pacific Bureau Chief for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "Over the next five years, we will work together to expand and increase our collaborative initiatives in Cambodia, and AHF will continue to provide technical support and strengthen the roll out of antiretroviral treatment and the scale up of ART delivery services in Cambodia.”

“It is our sincere hope that this collaboration between AHF and NCHADS will not only improve access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment throughout Cambodia, but also serve as a shining example of a comprehensive and collaborative model of care for people living with HIVAIDS."

One key aspect contributing to the success of AHF's work with its partners in Cambodia includes the linkage of clinic services provided together with other community and home-based services.

In addition, the Cambodian partnership focuses on integrating the delivery of services under a Continuum of Care (CoC) approach-an approach that recognizes the complexities surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic in order to improve prevention efforts and optimize use of the oftentimes limited resources available in the successful care and treatment of those living with the disease.

The first case of HIV infection in Cambodia was reported in 1991 and was followed by a rapid rise in its transmission.

Cambodia's national HIV/AIDS prevalence rate-around 3% in 1997 but decreasing to 1.9% in 2003-is still understood to be one of the highest in Southeast Asia.

According to a recent AFP/France 24 News Report (as cited on Kaiser Family Foundation's Daily HIV/AIDS Report), "Almost 10,000 Cambodians die of AIDS-related illnesses annually, according to government statistics. About 1.9% of Cambodia's 13.8 million people are HIV-positive."