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September 15, 2003
NEW SITE LAUNCHED FOCUSING ON AIDS IN ASIA NEW YORK -- The American Foundation for AIDS Research announced today it has launched a special Web site, engineered by Mediapolis, inc., to document a cooperative initiative in Asia that aims to build capacity for the safe and effective administration of therapeutics for HIV/AIDS on a broad scale. Despite successful prevention efforts in a few countries, most notably Thailand, HIV/AIDS continues to spread rapidly across Asia and the Pacific. With an estimated 6.6 million cases of HIV/AIDS at the end of 2001, including 1 million new HIV infections in that year alone, the region is now home to more people with HIV/AIDS than any other besides sub-Saharan Africa and is quickly becoming the new epicenter of the AIDS pandemic. "With careful planning and oversight, appropriate partnerships, and adequate investment, this cooperative could serve to improve the standard of care for millions of people with HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific and broaden access to approved and experimental therapies," said Daniel J.M. Tarantola, M.D., Senior Policy Advisor to the Director-General, World Health Organization, and amfAR Board member. The web site, called the Treat Asia Report, is intended to inform visitors about the state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Asia and the Pacific and the progress of amfAR's Therapeutics Research, Education, and AIDS Training in Asia (TREAT Asia) initiative. It also offers a forum for the expression of ideas and opinions on issues related to HIV/AIDS, primarily through a featured interview in each issue. "Like all of amfAR's work, this site exemplifies the Internet's ability to educate and inform," said Mediapolis principal Carl Pritzkat. "It's an honor for all of us at Mediapolis to see our software tools used in such a great way." The new site uses Iowa, Mediapolis's proprietary content management system, to give amfAR staff the ability to easily post and edit content on the site. amfAR is the nationÕs leading nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research, AIDS prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested nearly $207 million in support for its programs and awarded grants to more than 1,960 research teams worldwide. Mediapolis (www.mediapolis.com ) creates technology that simplifies the production of high profile, high performance Web sites. Since 1994, Mediapolis has used the Iowa¨ Software Suite to build more than 180 sites for clients including Sony Music, The New York Times and Johnson & Johnson.
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