amfAR wants to get real close to curing AIDS by 2020—and now it’s $200,000 closer to that goal thanks to the Campbell Foundation.
The 2020 target is a mainstay of amfAR’s Countdown to a Cure for AIDS initiative. The initiative is “aimed at finding a broadly applicable cure for HIV,” according to amfAR, and it’s working to “intensify amfAR’s cure-focused HIV research program with plans to strategically invest $100 million in cure research over the next six years. In September, The Campbell Foundation pledged to match up to $50,000 in new gifts toward amfAR’s goal.
In the two months since, 1,600 donors contributed more than $140,000, making the total revenue from the matching campaign nearly $200,000.
“With our Countdown to a Cure initiative, we are intensifying our research efforts over the next few years to support more collaboration among scientists focused on developing strategies to eliminate HIV infection,” said amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost. “The Campbell Foundation can take great pride in knowing that its matching grant is helping to fund promising new research ideas that will advance our search for a cure.”
amfAR’s “research roadmap” identify four key challenges that stand in the way of a cure:
- Chart the precise locations of the reservoirs
- Understand how HIV persists within them
- Record how much virus they hold
- Eliminate the virus
“The Campbell Foundation’s goals are aligned with those of amfAR. Both organizations have worked toward eradicating HIV/AIDS and believe that one day there will be a cure,” said Campbell Foundation Program Officer Ken Rapkin. “Matching grants, such as this one, allow The Campbell Foundation to be involved in groundbreaking, novel research projects at some of the top laboratories in the world and we are pleased tohave been able to play a part in amfAR’s latest funding initiative.”
To learn more about the Campbell Foundation, check out this video or go to campbellfoundation.net. For any questions, including how to donate to the foundation, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
So What Exactly does Campbell Fund?
Here are some examples of what Campbell’s funded with almost $9 million since 1995.
- Pediatric studies to prevent the transference of HIV from nursing mothers to newborn children
- Studies to Understand how human enzymes that are encoded with a particular gene may have a role in anti-viral immunity.
- The treatment of a stigmatizing rash contracted by AIDS patients
- Clinical trials to test medications
- Studies that tested the effects of steroids, nutrition and exercise on HIV-positive males
- Studies that tested the use of herbs to reduce the viral load in patients
- Studies that tested the use of acupuncture for pain relief in HIV patients
- Studies that tested the various novel anti-HIV medication therapies
