AIDS Healthcare Foundation to Sponsor Clinic in Durban, South Africa
The Hollywood, Calif.-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation will open the first "internationally sponsored" treatment center in South Africa, on Aug. 30, the Los Angeles Times reports. Medical experts and clinic administrators from Los Angeles will "set up" the clinic in Durban, but daily operations will be managed by a South African group, the Network of AIDS Communities. The clinic, called "Ithembalabantu," or the "people's hope" in Zulu, will begin treating patients in mid-September and will receive $200,000 in funding each year from the foundation, the Times reports. The idea for the clinic originated 13 months ago when AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein "check[ed] on" HIV services during the international AIDS conference in Durban. Weinstein met with leaders of the South African group, who told him of the AIDS "crisis" in the region, which "prompted" foundation officials to begin the clinic project. The foundation also runs nine clinics in Los Angeles, one in Oakland, Calif., and facilities in New York and Jacksonville, Fla. (Pool, Los Angeles Times, 8/17).
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