AMERICAN GIVING | Strengthening communities through generosity
31 July 2008
American Firms Provide Help to Fight AIDS Pandemic
Philanthropy goes beyond money for drugs
Washington -- From pharmaceutical companies and private foundations to a manufacturer of jeans, private U.S. businesses and charities are stepping forward to supplement government assistance and provide millions of dollars for HIV/AIDS projects worldwide.
The biggest player by far is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has created initiatives in dozens of countries and formed partnerships with many governments and pharmaceutical companies to attack the worldwide epidemic.
While many U.S. private organizations are responding to the AIDS crisis, including the Gates Foundation and a foundation created by former President Bill Clinton, the lion’s share of the funding comes from governments, and primarily from the U.S government. Private funding is estimated to account for only 4 percent of the total AIDS money going to stricken nations, which are mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.
Programs sponsored by the Gates Foundation and U.S. companies fund research and provide free or low-cost anti-retroviral medicine to HIV patients. They also develop community projects, create new health infrastructures and educate the public about prevention.
The Gates Foundation, for example, announced in November 2007 that it will commit $50 million to work in partnership with the Chinese government and nongovernmental organizations to expand HIV-prevention efforts in China.
Two years ago, the charity pledged $500 million over five years to the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an international fund supported by governments to provide AIDS assistance to poor countries. The foundation had given the fund $150 million prior to that commitment.
The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, which is funded by the giant pharmaceutical company, has contributed $150 million to AIDS projects since 1999, developing partnerships with local nongovernmental organizations and backing more than 200 initiatives in foreign nations as part of its “Secure the Future” project.
“This is one of the biggest pandemics the world is facing,” said John Damonti, president of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation. “You need to stand up and address these issues."
Bristol-Myers Squibb has focused on a series of hard-hit nations in southern Africa -- Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana and Namibia -- and expanded its programs to West Africa, including Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal.
Their programs include training 4,000 local leaders to provide community-based treatment, anti-retroviral drugs and patient counseling.
In addition, the foundation created the Pediatric AIDS Corp., bringing 50 North American pediatricians to Africa each year to treat children with AIDS.
In a different kind of AIDS campaign, Levi Strauss, the jeans manufacturer, also has a foundation focusing on HIV/AIDS worldwide.
With Levi Strauss facilities in 40 countries around the world, the foundation began focusing on the issues of stigma and discrimination. More recently, it became one of five foundations promoting safe syringe access in China, Thailand, Indonesia and Ukraine, according to Daniel Lee, director of grant-making programs at the Levi Strauss Foundation.
“We have a prevention, treatment and care program,” Lee said. “With our grant-making program, we can widen the halo.”
Partnering with the William J. Clinton Foundation, the Levi Strauss Foundation has an initiative to provide treatment and care to Levi Strauss employees worldwide.
The Clinton Foundation has focused on HIV/AIDS worldwide in a variety of programs. Although the amount of money spent has not been disclosed, the foundation has successfully negotiated price reductions for critical AIDS drugs, improving the lot of patients in the 69 countries where 90 percent of people with HIV live. An estimated 1.4 million people are benefiting from the reduced-price medications.
In July, the Abbott Fund, the philanthropic arm of Abbott Laboratories, announced it is investing more than $40 million in an initiative to expand Tanzania’s access to HIV testing and treatment and to assist orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS. It has done similar initiatives in Romania, Malawi, Burkina Faso and India.
In a partnership with the Gates Foundation, Merck, another drug maker, has invested $56.5 million to develop a partnership to help people in Botswana get treatment.
When the program started in 2004, less than 5 percent of people who needed to be treated in Botswana were being helped. “Today, it is 85 percent of the people who need treatment are getting treatment,” said Maggie Kohn, Merck’s director for corporate responsibility.
