Siempre Unidos: Letter of Inquiry United

Against
Infectious
Diseases
(UAID)

United Against Infectious Diseases (UAID)

PO Box 202820
New Haven, CT 06520

Parent organization: Global Brigades

Chief Executive Officer: Sonia Gupta

sonia.gupta@yale.edu
(937)-216-5029
 Siempre Unidos: Letter of Inquiry United
Against
Infectious
Diseases
(UAID)

To whom this may concern,

I am pleased to submit this letter of inquiry to Siempre Unidos to

determine your interest in partnering with UAID to coordinate and implement
our Awareness Campaign in Honduras. United Against Infectious Diseases
(UAID) was established during the Spring of 2009 at Yale University, and has
been welcomed under the auspices of Global Brigades, Inc., the world’s largest
student-led global health and sustainable development organization. In short,
our mission is three-fold: 1), to raise funds to purchase rapid HIV, tuberculosis,
and malaria testing kits; 2), to distribute and administer these tests to at-risk
populations in developing countries; 3), to direct patients to appropriate
counseling services. By bolstering preventative measures, we hope to help
reduce the spread of the disease in these regions and to strengthen young
villagers’ access to HIV/AIDS related health services. Currently, our efforts are
focused on addressing the rapidly expanding AIDS pandemic in Latin America.
First, we plan to maximize the effectiveness of our mission by investing in
Rapid HIV Tests. While over 2.1 million HIV tests are conducted annually,
according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), a good number of patients do
not return for their results. Rapid HIV Tests ensure that patients are informed of
their status quickly and efficiently, taking a maximum of an hour to administer
the test and interpret the results. Consequently, these tests offer an attractive
means of increasing rural Latin American villagers' awareness of whether or not
they have the disease because the results can be delivered the same day as the
test. In this way, we intend to maximize the convenience of the tests and the
accessibility of the results.
We also recognize that stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS poses a huge barrier
to public health efforts to slow the disease’s progression. Many Latin Americans
fear to know their HIV/AIDS status partially due to the association of sexually-
transmitted diseases to promiscuous behavior. HIV/AIDS is particularly prevalent
among men who have sex with men and sex workers in Latin America, and thus
an HIV-positive status carries serious implications about the types of activities
that the patient is engaged in. As a result of these associations, many assume
that if they are not a member of one of these “high-risk” groups, HIV/AIDS is not
a threat. To further exacerbate the effects of HIV-related stigma, open
discussions about sex education is often discouraged due to the heavy influence
of the Catholic Church in Latin American countries.
To address the existence of HIV-related stigma, we would like to
coordinate an Awareness Campaign that both educates communities in
Honduras about HIV transmission and encourages open discussions about fears,
anxieties and misconceptions surrounding HIV. We hope that a combination of
HIV/AIDS education and interactive activities will promote a more supportive
 Siempre Unidos: Letter of Inquiry United
Against
Infectious
Diseases
(UAID)

environment for those suffering from HIV, so that stigma no longer poses a
barrier to accessing testing and treatment services. We aim to create a lasting
impact on select villages through commitment and sustained relationships, and
to return to these villages periodically over the course of the coming year, in
order to carefully monitor the health of the villagers over time.
We thought that Siempre Unidos might find our project of particular
interest, as it closely aligns with your goals of educating Hondurans about HIV
transmission, providing testing services, and providing social support for those
who are HIV-positive. UAID will be travelling to Honduras during the final week
of August 2010 to implement this project, and we are excited about the
prospect of collaborating with your organization to provide rapid HIV-tests and
to create an effective Awareness Campaign. With your group’s expertise, we are
sure that we can make a meaningful impact on these communities. If you have
any questions or would like to receive a full proposal, please feel free to contact
me or the Executive Director of the project, Sonia Gupta. We deeply appreciate
your consideration of our request and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,
Nicole Jackson
UAID