ActionAIDS Reaches Former Inmates

Philly's largest AIDS organization has received a grant to assist incarcerated people living with the disease

More than 700,000 individuals living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. don’t receive the life-saving health care they need to maintain quality of life. Blame everything from poverty to misinformation, even a lack of access to the most appropriate care. But thanks to a new grant from AIDS United, Philly’s ActionAIDS will be doing even more outreach to a community that’s been especially lacking these vital services – formerly incarcerated people in the Philadelphia Prison System who are living with the disease.

ActionAIDS is among five programs around the country – and the only in the Northeast – receiving the grant for its Access to Care (A2C) initiative – worth $190,000 per year for three years.

Supported by the Social Innovation Fund (SIF), this award will assist ActionAIDS with its intensive case management program designed to increase the rate of retention in health care for individuals who have recently been released from the Philadelphia Prison System.

“To end HIV in the United States, we must be vigilant about linking people living with HIV/AIDS in our most impacted populations to the care that they need,” says AIDS United Senior Vice President Vignetta Charles. “We now know that access to quality HIV care not leads to better individual health outcomes, but also helps prevent the spread of the virus within communities. We are thrilled that funding from the Social Innovation Fund allows us to support these new projects to overcome barriers to HIV care in some of our nation’s most severely affected populations, including people who are formerly incarcerated, people who are homeless, and people who are living with HIV.”

To find out how you or someone you know can get help, contact ActionAIDS at 215-981-0088.