AIDS Portrait Exhibit in Russell Rotunda Highlights Need to Preserve AIDS Treatment Focus in PEPFAR - 'AfricAlive: Portraits of Success'

Business Wire, May 14, 2008

Despite Congress' Tripling of PEPFAR Funding for Successful US Global AIDS Program, Current Re-authorization Bill Lacks Any Treatment Requirement, a Key Component to PEPFAR's Success

AIDS Healthcare Foundation:

AfricAlive: Portraits of Success

Who:

* AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the nation's largest AIDS organization, has brought its compelling traveling exhibit called AfricAlive - Portraits of Success, to Washington, D.C., (May 12-17, 2008) to the Rotunda in the Russell Senate Office Building. The exhibit shows what's possible with access to life-saving anti-retroviral AIDS treatments. AfricAlive is a celebration of life over death.

What:

* A series of life-size photographic portraits of women, men and children in South Africa and Uganda who are among the fortunate few with access to anti-retroviral treatments obtained from AIDS Healthcare Foundation clinics. The photos, taken by globally recognized photographer, Dorit Thies, are accompanied by moving biographical sketches outlining each subject's personal story and the triumph of life over death.

When and Where:

* AfricAlive: Portraits of Success in the Russell Rotunda, Washington, D.C., daily during week of May 12-16. The exhibit has previously traveled to Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland, CA.

MEDIA AVAILABILITY

* THURSDAY, May 15(th) - 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Russell Senate Office Building Rotunda, Washington, D.C.

* AHF's African delegation (see below), including AfricAlive portrait subject Fundiswa Doncabe and her three-year-old son, Thubelihle, will be available to meet the media and the public in the Russell Rotunda on Thursday, May 15th, between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.

CONTACT: Terri Ford, AHF Director of Global Advocacy 1-213-399-1001 mobile, terrif@aidshealth.org

AIDS medical care providers and AIDS treatment clients from Uganda, South Africa and Rwanda are visiting Washington, D.C., this week for a series of meetings on Capitol Hill with Senate leaders to encourage Congress as they consider the bill to reauthorize PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), the successful US global AIDS program. The group, all of whom are treatment clients or medical providers of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) (www.aidshealth.org), which provides AIDS medical care to more than 70,000 individuals in 22 countries worldwide, will urge Congress to reinstate a requirement that a minimum percentage of PEPFAR funding be required to be spent on lifesaving treatment, and to increase the goal of those on treatment through the program.

The African AIDS delegation joined a number of U.S. Senators including Senator Tom Coburn, M.D., (R-Okla.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) in a press conference on Tuesday to call for the preservation of a focus on AIDS treatment in the new PEPFAR bill.

One of the AfricAlive portrait subjects, Fundiswa Doncabe, an AIDS treatment client from AHF's Ithembalbantu (Zulu for "people's hope") clinic in Durban, South Africa, is part of the African delegation lobbying Congress this week. She traveled to Washington with her three-year-old son, Thubelihle Shabalala, to tell her personal story of living successfully with AIDS thanks to her access to lifesaving antiretroviral treatment (ART).

The original PEPFAR bill, first proposed by President Bush five years ago, has a requirement that 55% of all funds be targeted for treatment. Congress has unfortunately removed a requirement that any PEPFAR funds be spent on lifesaving treatment in the re-authorization bill, despite the fact that Congress is increasing funding to $50 billion over the next five years up from its initial $15 billion, five-year commitment.