HIV Collaborative Fund receives $5.2 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The HIV Collaborative Fund, a partnership of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition and Tides, has announced that it has received a three-year grant for $5.2 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support community-based organizations in sub-Saharan Africa engaged in advocacy and educational activities to increase access to HIV treatment and prevention services.

The HIV Collaborative Fund uses a unique funding mechanism in which all funding decisions are guided by the members of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), a global coalition of people living with AIDS and their advocates, to strengthen access to comprehensive and equitable treatment, care and prevention services. The HIV Collaborative Fund is a project of Tides. Fiscal sponsorship is provided by Tides Center and grants are administered through Tides Foundation.

"People living with HIV and grassroots organizations have a unique and important role to play in advocating for HIV services, fighting stigma, partnering in the delivery of lifesaving prevention and care services, and strengthening governmental leadership on AIDS," said Joe Cerrell, Director of Global Health Policy and Advocacy at the Gates Foundation.

"Support from the Gates Foundation will allow ITPC to strengthen its network capacity across sub-Saharan Africa and create models for service delivery, advocacy and communications that we will apply around the world," said Greg Gray, ITPC's International Coordinator.

ITPC members around the world advocate for increased access to HIV treatment, evidence-based prevention services, and the human rights of people living with AIDS. The Coalition's semi-annual Missing the Target reports provide an on-the-ground assessment of the impact of HIV treatment programs in countries around the world. The recommendations for improved care in these reports have been adopted by several institutions, and published in several publications, including the independent and widely respected medical journal The Lancet.

Since 2003, over 500 organizations around the world have received grants through the HIV Collaborative Fund. Examples of funded programs include:

• The Women's Network for Unity (WNU) in Cambodia, a community organization in Phnom Penh, created a project focused on expanding access to HIV/AIDS treatment for sex workers.
• The South India Positive Network serves aravanigal (members of the indigenous male-to-female transgender community) and men who have sex with men in Chennai with prevention services and treatment education.
• Solidarity for AIDS Organization in the Teso region of eastern Uganda, formed when no other service provider was operating in the area because of political instability and armed rebel groups. SAO's founders were community members living in displacement camps and conduct community education, distribute condoms and works to increase treatment for HIV in those camps. About The HIV Collaborative Fund

The HIV Collaborative Fund was founded in 2003 and provides small grants to community-based organizations in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Funding is also provided for technical assistance, program evaluation and regional network support. Over 15 donors support these activities including the World Health Organization, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Steven Lewis Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, Ford Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The HIV Collaborative Fund is a project of Tides (www.tides.org) and all funding decisions are guided by the members of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition. Descriptions of all funded projects are available at http://www.hivcollaborativefund.org/.