Press Release: About the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative
What does the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative do?
The Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) was established in 2002 in order to assist governments in developing countries to develop and execute integrated care, treatment and prevention programs for people living with HIV/AIDS. The Initiative works in three ways:
- At the invitation of national governments, CHAI mobilizes business and clinical expertise to assist in developing national care and treatment plans, and CHAI supports governments as they implement these programs with technical assistance.
- CHAI negotiates agreements to reduce the prices of HIV/AIDS drugs and diagnostics and works with purchasing countries to effectively access these prices and products.
- CHAI uses its resources as a catalyst to identify and jump-start areas of care and treatment that require special focus, e.g. pediatric and rural care.
The Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative plays a role only where local governments would like assistance. In this sense, the Initiative views itself as a “gap filler.” Governments identify gaps, and the Initiative fills these gaps when others cannot.
What has CHAI accomplished to date?
Since its inception in 2002, the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative has:
- Negotiated agreements with ten suppliers to cut the prices of HIV/AIDS drugs and diagnostics by 50–90 percent, making treatment more affordable for developing countries.
— The cost of the most commonly used first-line drug regimen is now about $140 per patient per year, half of the price otherwise available on the generic market and one-quarter the cost of the patented equivalent.
— The cost of CD4 diagnostics has fallen from $20–40 to $3–6 per test under the Initiative’s agreements, and the cost of viral load assays has fallen from $60–100 per test to $12–18 based on the agreements.
- Assisted more than one dozen countries to develop and implement plans to scale up care and treatment of people living with HIV. CHAI has provided technical assistance in areas ranging from setting care protocols, training health professionals, upgrading laboratories, establishing patient information systems, establishing monitoring and evaluation systems, establishing drug procurement and distribution systems, providing adequate nutrition, budgeting and overall program management.
- Expanded eligibility to purchase under the Initiative’s agreements to approximately 40 countries, so that more than 110,000 people on antiretroviral treatment (ART) are benefiting from drugs and/or diagnostics purchased under these agreements.
What are the priorities for CHAI in 2005?
The most important priority of the Initiative in 2005 is to make care and treatment programs work effectively in the more than one dozen countries with which the Initiative currently partners. CHAI will expand to additional countries both its technical assistance and eligibility to purchase under its drug and diagnostic agreements. CHAI will also broaden its procurement agreements to cover more products and more suppliers. CHAI is committed to jump-starting treatment for children—donating drugs to treat 10,000 in 2005, doubling the number of children on treatment today in developing countries outside of Brazil and Thailand—and to developing successful models for treatment in very poor rural settings, initially by bringing Partners In Health to Rwanda.
Going forward, the Initiative will ensure that by the end of 2008 two million people living with HIV in the developing world are purchasing AIDS drugs and diagnostics under its agreements.
How does CHAI partner with others?
In every country in which the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative works, the implementation of comprehensive HIV/AIDS programs relies on local governments. The Initiative provides assistance to and works through them. CHAI also works with local and international NGOs, including the members of its “care consortium.” The Initiative has also signed memoranda of understanding with several multilateral organizations and procurement agents, including the Global Fund, the International Dispensary Association, UNICEF, UNDP, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the World Bank. The Initiative is also committed to working with donor governments, whose resources are a critical component of national plans to finance HIV/AIDS care and treatment. Donors with whom CHAI works include the governments of Canada, France, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Initiative believes that collaboration among many organizations under the leadership of local governments is the only way to address the AIDS crisis comprehensively.
How does CHAI support its work?
The work of the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative depends on private donors and the time donated by hundreds of part-time and full-time volunteers. Care and treatment programs themselves are financed principally by national governments and international donors.
Where is CHAI based?
The majority of CHAI’s staff and resources are focused in developing countries. CHAI supports its partner countries with eight country offices (China, Dominican Republic, India, Lesotho, Mozambique, Rwanda, St. Lucia and Tanzania). Staff resides in three additional countries (Botswana, Kenya and South Africa) to provide regional support to Africa. In the United States, CHAI maintains offices in Quincy, Massachusetts, and in Harlem, New York. In total, the Initiative employs more than 40 people. Ira C. Magaziner is Chairman of the Initiative.
Note: Partner countries of the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative include the Bahamas, Cambodia, China,
Dominican Republic, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and the six countries and three territories of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. Members of the care consortium include Brown University Medical School, the Harvard AIDS Institute, Harvard Medical School, Health Alliance International at the University of Washington, the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, Partners In Health, PharmAccess and the University of Alabama Medical School.
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