Congresswoman Barbara Lee Officially Opens Pangaea's Oakland HQ
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, a longtime global AIDS activist, officially opens Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation’s Headquarters in Oakland on Friday September 16th, during a gathering of community and international leaders to support and guide Pangaea’s important initiatives in the fight against HIV both globally and here in Oakland. Joining Congresswoman Lee, will be Dr. Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicines.
“Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation has been a trailblazer in the global fight against HIV/AIDS for over ten years,” said Congresswoman Lee. “AIDS is taking a terrible toll in the African-American community in Alameda County and throughout the U.S. I’m pleased that Pangaea is now headquartered in Oakland and is taking an active role with me and other leaders in the local community to fight AIDS here at home.”
Locally, Pangaea has been working with two leading community HIV organizations, the California Prevention and Education Project (CAL-PEP)and La Clinica de la Raza, alongside the University of California, Berkeleyand the Alameda County Public Health Department Office of AIDS, to explore reasons for late testing and delayed entry into care for HIV/AIDS in Oakland, California and define solutions to address this critical issue. This research project is supported by the Office of AIDS Research (OAR) National Institutes of Health.
“All of us at Pangaea are excited to have established ourselves as part of the Oakland community, while embarking on a number of challenging projects across the globe,” said Plumley. “Oakland has been hit hard by AIDS, and while every epidemic has local differences, the lessons that we’ve learned bringing comprehensive HIV prevention and treatment services to vulnerable populations in Africa and Asia are relevant in Oakland today.”
Internationally, Pangaea’s current projects include assisting the Government of Tanzania in the establishment of a methadone program for HIV-positive injection drug users, economic empowerment programs for young girls and women in Zimbabwe, and the creation of comprehensive HIV prevention and treatment programs targeted at men who have sex with men (MSM) in China.
The event is being co-hosted by the members of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law and of the United Nations Development Programme.
For more information, please contact:
Carl Whitaker – Communications
P: 510.847.0599
Sabine Niewiadomski – Program Manager
P: 415.218.1574
