Board member Volunteer coordinator

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About AIDSfreeAFRICA

Location:

125 S HIGHLAND AVE 3-B1, OSSINING, NY 10562, US

Mission Statement

AIDSfreeAFRICA is a community of professionals dedicated to empowering Africans to become self-sufficient in producing quality pharmaceuticals, to improving access to essential medicines and diagnostics, and to enhancing science education for students and professionals. The Vision of AIDSfreeAFRICA is Africa free of HIV/AIDS. We see providing the world with the capacity to produce lifesaving drugs as an expression of our commitment to peace, health and human dignity. Guiding Principles: AIDSfreeAFRICA’s work is based on the principles of self-sustainability and active participation of the people who the intervention must benefit. We look for win-win situations and opportunities where relatively small contributions produce ripple effects to create extraordinary lasting results that change people’s lives for years to come.

Description

AIDSfreeAFRICA is a small non-profit based in the U.S. that supports the people of Cameroon. After supporting the building of local facilities to package bulk drugs, we are in the process of building a quality control laboratory in Cameroon to determine the efficacy and safety of imported and locally-produced medications. We send donated equipment for use in clinics, hospitals and science laboratories. Another project is the MalariaFreeZone, which promotes the use of old mosquito nets to cover windows and doors to reduce vulnerability to malaria-carrying mosquitoes while indoors. We also use state-of-the-art science to diagnose the different strains of malaria.

Improving African's health is a crucial precondition to improving the local economies and lifting people out of poverty. Traditional models of "charity" do not suffice for a crisis of this scope. Rather, an intervention model that is self-sustainable and replicable is best. Today people generally consider food, shelter and education basic human rights. AIDSfreeAFRICA adds access to essential drugs to this list. We believe it is essential that developing countries have their own local pharmaceutical production facilities. Supported by AIDSfreeAFRICA, trained pharmacists and technicians have begun to package and distribute drugs to get them to doctors and hospital pharmacies where these drugs will be available to the patients who need them. A healthy population is needed to take advantage of Africa's natural resources and latent wealth to lift the continent out of poverty.