SÃO PAULO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following torrential rains and flooding that have killed more 100 in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which operates 25 HIV/AIDS treatment clinics in the country—including three in Pernambuco and five in Recife—will deploy humanitarian aid to the hard-hit region of the country. AHF Brazil will deliver the aid, which will include food basket cards and cleaning and hygiene supplies, chlorine tablets to purify drinking water, 120 mattresses as well as repairing some damaged equipment.
The aid will provide supplies for approximately 600 people, 40 of whom are patients at AHF Brazil clinics and an additional 560 or so homeless individuals—10% of the homeless populations in the targeted cities.
An important issue AHF considered in deploying aid was the logistics of storing a volume of boxes of food.
“We decided our best course here in Brazil is to provide food basket cards with the other supplies to give people the autonomy to buy what they eat and to be able to manage the aid provided,” said Beto de Jesus, Country Program Manager for AHF Brazil. “A heavy box of food might be difficult to transport and might get lost with new rains. In Brazil we have a long experience of income transfer projects with such cards.”
"At AHF, we know that in addition to medical care, it is essential to take care of the comprehensive health of our patients, their families and communities, in critical moments like this where they could have lost their home and all their personal belongings,” said Dr. Patricia Campos, Latin America and Caribbean Bureau Chief for AHF, who is based in Mexico. “The humanitarian aid that AHF Brazil is now providing in these hard-hit communities in Recife and Pernambuco will be a real lifeline for many whose lives have been upended by these devastating, deadly rains and floods.”
In addition to AHF’s work fighting HIV/AIDS around the world, AHF has a long history of providing help in emergencies. AHF also organized relief to Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Haiti after hurricanes Rita and Irma.
Five days after the deadly 7.2 earthquake in Haiti in March 2021, AHF charted a plane in Miami to deliver items critically needed by health care centers, hospitals and other medical facilities to address time-sensitive medical needs of those impacted by the earthquake. Those flights delivered 44,000 pounds of supplies, including generators, chlorine tablets, non-perishable food items, solar flashlights, and tents.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.5 million clients in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare