AHF Europe Celebrates 10 Years and 100,000 Clients in Care! By Julie Pascault (Article and Images Courtesy of AHF)
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HF’s Europe Bureau hit two major milestones in 2020 – its 10-year anniversary and, even more monumental, more than 100,000 clients in care! Nearly 14% of people accessing HIV treatment in Eastern Europe and Central Asia receive care at AHF-supported sites, in partnership with governmental and non-governmental institutions. Several novel initiatives were started over the past 10 years, including a free rapid HIV testing model to reach key populations, and more significantly, the introduction of rapid testing in medical facilities (provider-initiated testing and indicator-disease testing), which became part of some countries’ national guidelines. Innovative methods for improving linkage to care were also implemented across the region, along with the modeling of people-centered solutions for treatment of chronic HIV infection disease and groundbreaking prevention campaigns through creative marketing.
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Throughout all of these, AHF has been a driving force behind many service delivery advancements in Europe. “We’ve had an amazing past decade and our goal still remains to turn AHF’s mission of ‘cutting-edge medicine and advocacy regardless of ability to pay’ into reality across Europe,” said Zoya Shabarova, AHF Europe Bureau Chief. “We also have big targets for the future, including a new Global Public Health Convention to ensure all countries are fully prepared to protect their citizens’ health in effective and coordinated ways during pandemics. We are making this vision a reality.” Advocacy has been critical to the Bureau’s success, and the results achieved could not have been possible without building fruitful and cooperative relationships with other NGOs and governments alike. “The era of combating HIV has produced a number of great organizations leading the fight. Yet only
