Aid for AIDS

UTAI

The Universal Treatment Access Initiative was designed to help governments provide individuals living with HIV and AIDS in their countries with the medications they so desperately need. More specifically, the program works to identify gaps in treatment coverage and eliminate those gaps by providing the necessary treatment. Once a specific population has been selected, program staff analyze why these individuals may not be receiving treatment, and develop models to successfully distribute ARV medication. The objective of the Universal Treatment Access Initiative is to help to truly make access to anti-retroviral medication universal, for people living with HIV and AIDS.

The Universal Treatment Access Initiative will ring in the New Year with its first large donation of generic antiretroviral medication, set to arrive in Panama in early January 2008. The donation will be sufficient to cover 1,000 people for one year, and will be distributed across six countries in Central America (includes: Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, Costa Rica, and Honduras).

More specifically, this medication will be used to cover "mobile populations" in these countries. 'Mobile populations' broadly refers to people who move from one place to another, temporarily, seasonally, or permanently, for various voluntary and/or involuntary reasons. In general, mobile populations face greater risk of exposure to HIV and AIDS, are more likely to live in poverty, have poorer educational background, limited health care services, and encounter economic hardship and violence. In addition, due to their mobility, they may also have legal and/or documentation concerns, face language barriers and unfamiliarity with local healthcare services, and experience unstable housing situations.

In Central America, border policies and increased opportunities for seasonal employment increases the rates of migration and travel. Over the past five years, the migrant populations in Central America, primarily employed in the clothing production industries of these countries, has risen to more than 30% of the total population. These migrant workers are primarily adolescent girls and women- as a group, the population with highest risk for HIV infections and STDs.

While there are institutions that provide some support for mobile populations in Central America, for the most part, they are lost to the system. It is for this reason that AFAI has chosen to provide ARV treatment coverage for these individuals. While medication will be distributed by the National AIDS Programs within receiving countries, AFAI will continue to maintain surveillance over the medication and its distribution. Through this initiative, 1,000 people living with HIV and AIDS in Central America will be able to receive life-saving treatment.