Siempre Unidos is the leading care provider for HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

-positive individuals in Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

. It is a unique fusion of a local self-help group and a US-based not-for-profit, ensuring both that the services provided are closely tied to the needs of the community and that the community has access to the resources and cutting-edge medicine of the United States.

History

Siempre Unidos began in 1995 as a Honduran self-help group organized out of the Episcopal church

Episcopal Church (United States)

The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...

. Rev Pascual Torres, Chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras, helped organize

After Hurricane Mitch

Hurricane Mitch

Hurricane Mitch was the most powerful hurricane and the most destructive of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season, with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph . The storm was the thirteenth tropical storm, ninth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the season. Along with Hurricane Georges, Mitch...

, volunteers from St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Belvedere, CA came to Honduras to rebuild houses and help provide safe drinking water. When they discovered the Siempre Unidos self-help group, the life expectancy of members was 6 months. Dr. Denise Main

Denise Main

Denise Maillet Main is a leading AIDS activist and a preeminent doctor in the San Francisco Bay area. Main is the President of Siempre Unidos California, and is Director of the Prenatal Diagnosis Center at California Pacific Medical Center.- Biography :...

 began work creating a sister organization in the states to help organize and provide resources for the self-help groups.

Clinics

Starting in 2003, the San Pedro Sula

San Pedro Sula

San Pedro Sula is a city in Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country, in the Valle de Sula , about 60 km south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean. With an estimated population of 638,259 people in the main municipality, and 802,598 in its metro area , it is the second...

 meeting area became a true clinic, offering medical care and triple anti-retroviral medications. By 2004, they had opened clinics in Siguatepeque

Siguatepeque

Siguatepeque is a small town in the Central Mountains of Honduras, Central America at 1100 metres above sea level and surrounded by mountains.Located almost exactly halfway between Honduras' two largest cities of San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, it is a major stopping point for rest and refreshment...

 and Roatan

Roatán

Roatán, located between the islands of Útila and Guanaja, is the largest of Honduras' Bay Islands. The island was formerly known as Ruatan and Rattan...

, growing to be one of the largest AIDS care provider in Honduras.

Patients cook and share free hot meals and provide support for each other. They have a dedicated staff of Honduran physicians and nurses, while a US HIV specialist visits every few months to evaluate especially complicated cases. Affordable anti-retroviral treatment is provided through the Honduran government and RAMP.

Workshops

Now that they can expect to lead full, productive lives, Siempre Unidos members are faced with the prospect of finding employment. In Honduras, job discrimination against HIV-positive people is severe; it isn't uncommon for a large employer to force all employees to take HIV tests, firing all those that are positive.

As a result, Siempre Unidos has developed a variety of forms of employment for its members, including sewing and jeweling, guaranteeing a fair wage and safe, secure working conditions. The resulting products are sold in the United States under the SiempreSol brand, with profits returning to the clinics to expand access and services. SiempreSol is fair trade

Fair trade

Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...

 certified by the Fair Trade Federation

Fair Trade Federation

The Fair Trade Federation is a Washington DC-based nonprofit trade association that provides support to and promotes North American businesses that they identify as being fully committed to the principles of fair trade...

.

The aim to is create a new model of sustainable AIDS care, where patients are able to pay for their own care.

Outreach

Recognizing that the only way to end the epidemic is through stopping its spread, Siempre Unidos does extensive outreach and education, reaching the most at risk groups--commercial sex workers, street children, and high school and university students.

Siempre Unidos is also one of the only organizations in Honduras that offers voluntary confidential and accurate HIV screenings.

Official Websites

SiempreUnidos.org

SiempreSol.org