ViiV Healthcare's Positive Action on HIV/AIDS

Set up in 1992, Positive Action is ViiV Healthcare's international HIV/AIDS education, care and community support program. It works with community organizations to build capacity to counter the ignorance and stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS through outreach, education and advocacy. In 2009, ViiV Healthcare provided more than GBP 1 million, funding projects in 46 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Positive Action has pioneered support for vulnerable communities, including men who have sex with men, intravenous drug users, sex workers, migrants, young people, orphans and vulnerable children and marginalized poor rural women. In July 2009, ViiV Healthcare launched a new Positive Action for Children Fund which will make GBP 50 million (USD 80 million) available over ten years to help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and to support orphans and vulnerable children. During 2009, ViiV Healthcare supported 17 Positive Action programs in 46 countries, examples of which are given below. Reach India aims to make HIV/AIDS prevention, financial and business education available to millions of poor women in rural India. ViiV is giving USD 595,000 over four years to develop the capacity of community organizations and self-help groups to reach 500,000 women and 2.5 million family members in rural areas. Reach India is supported by Catholic Relief Services (CRS). In Kenya, ViiV is giving USD 2.2 million over four years to integrate HIV/AIDS treatment and support services into 38 general healthcare clinics, to enable people to avoid the stigma of visiting an HIV clinic. Positive Action also helps to train healthcare professionals and create patient self-help groups. Other partners include the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) and the National Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK). In Mexico, ViiV is working on a four-year project with the International HIV/AIDS Alliance (IHAA) and its Mexican partner, Colectivo Sol, to improve quality of life for people with HIV/AIDS, reduce stigma and discrimination, and educate people about HIV/AIDS. The TREAT Asia program is run by the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) with support from Positive Action and seeks to teach proper, safe and effective use of HIV therapies, working with clinicians and other health care workers in 25 clinics across a number of Asian countries, including Cambodia, China, Thailand and Vietnam. In 2009 ViiV Healthcare announced support for the Staying Alive Foundation in its efforts to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and its prevention among young people worldwide.