AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest AIDS healthcare, prevention and education provider in the United States which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the U.S., Africa, Latin America, Caribbean and Asia, has joined with China's Xinjiang Medical University and the Xinjiang Medical University for a new HIV/AIDS treatment and training initiative.

The partnership will create a "Center of Excellence", a model for high-quality antiretroviral therapy, medical training and a clinical preceptorship program in healthcare and medical management of HIV disease including the use of ART for persons living with HIV/AIDS at the Xinjiang Medical University. The collaboration, which will be known as the "AHF — Xinjiang Medical University–Affiliated Hospital HIV/AIDS Treatment and Training Initiative", was recently formalized in a memorandum of understanding between AHF and the Chinese medical institutions, and was celebrated in China in a formal dedication ceremony on December 26, 2006.

"It is an honor and a privilege for AIDS Healthcare Foundation to embark on this lifesaving AIDS treatment and training partnership with our colleagues at the renowned Xinjiang Medical University," said Dr. Chinkholal Thangsing, Asia Pacific Bureau Chief for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who had worked closely with Chinese health and government officials to develop the program and finalize this agreement. "We look forward to working closely together to help build and strengthen the capacity and skills of the medical community's ability to deliver
high-quality HIV/AIDS treatment and management in Xinjiang Province."

Xinjiang is an autonomous region in China and accounts for more than one sixth of China's total territory, and a quarter of its boundary length. Xinjiang has about one-tenth of China's AIDS burden and the highest HIV infection rate in the country with an officially estimated 60,000 people living with HIV/AIDS.

"It's a great opportunity to sign this collaborative project with AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a renowned international AIDS organization. Through this collaboration with AHF and other leading foreign experts, and the exchange of invaluable experience, we expect to provide state of the art medical care and services for HIV/AIDS patients in Xinjiang," said Professor Mohammed Yasen, President of Xinjiang Medical University. "It is my sincere expectation that under the aegis of AHF, a high quality AIDS treatment and research center can be established in the Xinjiang Medical University– Affiliated Hospital in the future. This collaboration will also project and promote the University to greater recognition and attract other institutions willing to partner and share their resources to better AIDS treatment in the months and years to come."

According to China AIDS Survey, an organization which aims to provide historical and analytical resources for relevant HIV/AIDS stakeholders, including educational and advocacy groups, government and civil society actors, and policy / media organizations, and which maintains a diverse database dedicated to the AIDS crisis in China: "Some 36 percent of all HIV cases are among China's ethnic minorities, which make up only eight percent of the population and are primarily concentrated in the border provinces of Yunnan province (southwest), Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (southwest) and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (west).

Xinjiang Medical University first got approval from the Ministry of Education in 1998 and was merged and formed from the former Xinjiang Medical College and former Traditional Chinese Medicine College. XMU currently has a full-time teaching faculty of 744 people, 13 colleges and departments, two teaching sections, five affiliated hospitals and three non-affiliated hospitals. XMU attaches great importance to internal and external exchanges and cooperation at home and abroad. Nationally, XMU has collaborations with over 20 domestic universities, and international universities involved in exchanges and cooperation include those such as Harvard Medical International, Bordeaux University, Comte University, Birmingham University, St. Petersburg University, Nagasaki University, Asahikawa University College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Khybers Medical College, Quad-e-Azam Medical College, Ayub Medical College and Frontier Medical College of Pakistan.

In addition to its work in the US, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, under its AHF Global division, operates free AIDS treatment clinics around the world, including: Cambodia, China, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. AHF Global also provides training programs in China, Haiti, India and Ukraine, Russian Federation and spearheads an innovative, twelve-week HIV Medics training program in Africa to train people to become treatment extenders that provide basic triage, intensive adherence support and assist in the provision of antiretroviral therapy.

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