Mission Statement
The Mission of AIDSfreeAFRICA is: AIDSfreeAFRICA is a community of professionals dedicated to empower Africans to be come self-sufficient in producing pharmaceuticals.
The Vision of AIDSfreeAFRICA is: Africa free of HIV/AIDS, to provide the world with the capacity to produce lifesaving drugs is an expression of our commitment to peace, health and human dignity.
Guiding principles: Money donated to AIDSfreeAFRICA will be used to create lasting structures that are self-sufficient, perpetual and eventually operated independent of AIDSfreeAFRICA .
Business statement: The goal is the emergence of a pharmaceutical infrastructure that provides Africans with access to affordable drugs, diagnostics and tests. AIDSfreeAFRICA gives technical advice and management expertise, arranges for training, provides donated equipment and makes available capital. AIDSfreeAFRICA facilitates the utilization of donor money in projects that have an immediate and profound impact on the lives of the recipients, their families and communities on a local level through microfinance programs.
What is the predictable future if we do not empower people to produce essential and antiretroviral drugs? In the poorest of poor regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa education is passed on from parent to child. Today, grandparents are caring for their grandchildren, themselves often too weak and sick. An orphan child does not learn how to grow crops and will grow up dependent on international aid, assuming it is not HIV/AIDS positive itself. 8500 people die in Africa every day. AIDS kills doctors, nurses, and teachers. Professionals of all walks of life vanish from where they are urgently needed to care for the sick, to teach the young, to work in factories, and to bring in the harvest. If nothing is done to keep people alive economies will collapse.
What are the possibilities if we were to accomplish a successful project bringing essential and antiretroviral drug production to all countries?
It may look like Brazil, the only developing country that has control over its AIDS crisis and the only developing country fulfilling the universal access challenge set for 2010. The universal access challenge wants every one who needs antiretrovirals to access the drugs by 2010. In 2000 it was predicted that by 2005 Brazil would have over a million HIV positive inhabitants. Today, in 2006 Brazil has just about half of this prediction, an estimated 600 000. AIDS medicine is provided for most of them for free. Brazil also gives out condoms and has started to export drugs to other developing countries.
Local production will give parents a chance to live long enough to teach their children and see them grow up. It will dramatically lower Parent-child transmission. With drugs available, people will have a reason to seek testing and education, because death is no longer inevitable. Investing in human capacity will prevent the collapse of a continent.
What will it take? It takes all that is in place right now and much more. What can you do besides the already known venues to speak up and to nudge your elected officials? AIDSfreeAFRICA is the organization that trains people to create the infrastructure needed to produce essential and antiretroviral drugs. Our goal is to empower locals to produce drugs to treat 5000 people at each location ongoing, starting without delay. A professional board of directors is leading the task. Drug production is not rocket science, it can be learned and thanks to the US Pharmaceutical industry key drugs have been released from patent protection and are available to be produced generically, meaning off-patent. Please contact Dr. Rolande R. Hodel at RRHodel@aol.com if you are inspired to join this endeavor with your talents, energy, and donations. Click here to get to the TAKE ACTION: Opportunity to empower page.
If you would like to join the AIDSfreeAFRICA team or would like to make a donation, please feel free to contact me at: RRHodel@aol.com
For credit card donations please go back to our home page, and click on the donation button.