International medical nonprofit combating AIDS in developing countries (2003). Meeting at the Hôtel Marigny on the occasion of World AIDS Day (December 1st, 2009)

Of the 33 million people infected with HIV worldwide, 95% live in the poorest countries and of course do not benefit from the same conditions of treatment as in the richer countries, which dispose of greater resources for improving life expectancy and quality of life. Drawing on this observation, four doctors – Christine Katlama, Gilles Brücker, Brigitte Autran and Patrice Debré – set up a medical nonprofit in 2003 devoted to the developing countries. Its goal: to help strengthen health systems so as to offer high-quality treatment available to all over the longer term. Around a board of directors comprised of HIV/AIDS specialists and experts in development in the countries of the South, several programs are taking root, in Africa (almost 70% of infected people worldwide) and in the Indian Ocean. In Mali, Niger, Guinea, Madagascar, Benin and Burundi, the nonprofit provides support to health professionals and local public or private agencies involved in the combat against AIDS, enabling them to reinforce their capacities to guarantee access to therapeutic treatment. This support involves training health professionals and sharing medical and scientific knowledge, but also assistance with organizing and planning treatment of patients living with HIV/AIDS, by intervening directly with health workers (medical and paramedical staff); people working in laboratories; the agencies responsible for pharmaceutical questions; managers of coordination agencies bringing together national policy-makers, and the people responsible for colleting and monitoring patients’ medical data.