The Victor Pinchuk Foundation supports the joint project between the Elena Franchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation and the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative to fight AIDS epidemic in Ukraine. The project aims to reduce the growth rate of HIV/AIDS cases in Ukraine and to improve access to treatment and care for Ukrainians living with HIV/AIDS.
An agreement of cooperation between President William Jefferson Clinton, Elena Franchuk and Victor Pinchuk to implement the project was signed in New York on the 18th of September 2006. Under the program, Ukraine will get access to the best international experience in the fight against AIDS as well as latest know-how in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. The contribution of the Elena Franchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation will amount to USD 2.5 million.
The five year project was developed by Clinton Foundation’s experts. During the first year of implementation, the main activities will be concentrated in Dnipropetrovsk region with a further scale up of the positive experience to other regions in Ukraine.
Among the objectives of the project are: increasing access to HIV/AIDS testing; improvement of the existing laboratory system; training and mentoring for health care providers; improvement of the government procurement system; and extending the access to substitution therapy for injected drug users.
Elena Franchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation
The Elena Franchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation was founded by Elena Franchuk in September 2003. It was the first and remains today the only private foundation to fight AIDS in Ukraine.
The Foundation’s activities are focused on: conducting large-scale information and educational campaigns; drawing attention of opinion and business leaders to the HIV/AIDS problem in Ukraine; providing direct help to people living with HIV/AIDS; attracting additional resources to support projects for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS; extirpation of prejudices, decreasing stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS.
The cooperation between the Elena Franchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation and the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative started in 2004, when representatives of the Clinton Foundation visited Ukraine at the private invitation of Elena Franchuk.
The first visit to Ukraine resulted in the signing of a memorandum between the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative and the Government of Ukraine, which guaranteed Ukraine’s access to the lowest prices for generic drugs for HIV/AIDS treatment. Due to this memorandum a bigger number of patients got access to life saving treatment.
At the beginning of 2005, during President Clinton’s visit to Ukraine, a second and extended memorandum between the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative and the Government of Ukraine was signed which stipulated the main axes of cooperation between the Clinton Foundation and Ukraine in the field of HIV/AIDS. The five-year project to fight AIDS in Ukraine is structured to achieve the goals set out in that memorandum.
