Company Statements

Gilead Sciences Announces $500,000 Grant To Pan American Development Foundation To Provide Emergency Health Services For Venezuelan Migrants And Host Communities In Colombia

Foster City, Calif., April 3, 2019 — Gilead Sciences, Inc. today announced a $500,000 grant to the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) for an eight-month emergency health program that will provide services to 19,000 Venezuelan migrants and their host communities in six Colombian municipalities. The program, which includes HIV screening and treatment referral, will be done in collaboration with government agencies and nongovernmental organizations.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 3.4 million people have fled Venezuela as a result of the country’s health and humanitarian crisis, with one million migrants residing in neighboring Colombia. The crisis has had a disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities, including people living with and at risk for HIV. In migrant areas of Colombia, the latest estimates show a dramatic increase in morbidity from HIV/AIDS.

In response, PADF is working to enhance access to life-saving emergency healthcare services in six Colombian municipalities – Barranquilla, Soledad (Atlántico), Cartagena (Bolívar), Riohacha, Maicao (La Guajira) and Bogota. With Gilead’s support, PADF will work to establish community health centers in each of these underserved areas, grow public health service fairs to reach particularly hard-to-reach and high-risk communities, and expand voluntary HIV screening and counseling to increase the number of Venezuelans and Colombians who know their status and can be referred into care.

“Venezuelans living in migrant areas face serious interruptions to healthcare, including a lack of access to HIV services,” said Clifford Samuel, Senior Vice President, Access Operations & Emerging Markets, Gilead Sciences. “We are proud to partner with PADF to help reach communities in need.”

“Through these grants, PADF can provide vital health services to Venezuelan migrants and their host communities, including those living with HIV who so urgently need diagnosis and treatment,” said Katie Taylor, Executive Director, Pan American Development Foundation.

PADF has decades of experience aiding victims of natural disasters and humanitarian crises. In 2016, the organization received a grant from Gilead to provide emergency water, as well as sanitation and hygiene interventions, to Southern Haiti following Hurricane Matthew.

Today’s commitment is the second recent Gilead grant to address urgent health needs among Venezuelans. In 2018, the company provided $1 million to AID for AIDS International to help bring life-saving antiretroviral therapy to more than 18,000 Venezuelans living with HIV.

The work is part of Gilead’s effort, with our partners, to provide sustainable access to high-quality, low-cost therapies for HIV, viral hepatitis and visceral leishmaniasis for millions of people in 140 developing countries. This year marks 16 years since Gilead began treatment access initiatives in developing countries. Today, an estimated 11.5 million people in low- and middle-income countries take Gilead HIV medicines. Recognizing that more action is needed to end HIV/AIDS, Gilead continues to build partnerships to strengthen the global HIV response and to invest in research and development that may improve HIV treatment and prevention options, including research toward a potential cure.