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01 December 2005 17:39

Ukraine 3000 and GSK present COMBIVIR to AIDS patients

The Ukraine 3000 Foundation and the GlaxoSmithKline Company (GSK) presented 42, 000 COMBIVIR antiretroviral tablets worth UAH 1.2 million to the Ukrainian AIDS Center. 

Ukraine 3000 starts quite many projects to improve the public health system in Ukraine. Although their activities are focused mainly on children, they try not to neglect the people living with HIV/AIDS.

In her speech, Kateryna Yushchenko, Head of the Supervisory Council of the Ukraine 3000 Foundation, thanked David Pritchard, GSK’s Area General Manager, for kindly devoting much attention to AIDS patients in Ukraine.

The First Lady said, “Last year, Ukrainians showed all that in troubled times our society can be tolerant, benevolent, and understanding. Today, we must help the people that daily fight their disease. Let our joint action be an example for those communities, NGOs and private companies that are ready to prevent it.”

Inventor and manufacturer of COMBIVIR, GlaxoSmithKline decided to help the Ukrainian AIDS Center because it has a complete database of all Ukrainians with AIDS.

“We are proud to render aid to the people on World AIDS Day,” David Pritchard said. “We consider this day to be an occasion to support the international initiative to fight this pandemic by real actions.”

He noted that this event was not a sporadic manifestation of philanthropy, but a part of their large-scale corporate responsibility program.

Kateryna Yushchenko and David Pritchard said they hoped cooperation between Ukraine 3000 and GSK would continue.

Alla Shcherbynska, Director of the Ukrainian AIDS Center, thanked GSK and Ukraine 3000 for their kindness to AIDS patients and assured them that doctors of the center and volunteers would spare no effort to achieve results in AIDS treatment.

At fifteen regional clinics of the center, patients can take COMBIVIR, which is one of the world’s most popular and widely used medications. It blocks the immune deficiency virus and helps increase the number of patient’s antibodies. After receiving this therapy, people with HIV feel much better. 90% of them avoid catching fatal diseases. Taking this medication, they can do sports, work and sometimes even have healthy children.

Since 1988, World AIDS Day is marked on December 1. In Ukraine, we traditionally spend this day to express solidarity with 85 thousand HIV-positive people living in our country.