Alicia Keys and 'Keep a Child Alive' Visit AHF's Ithembalabantu Clinic, Free AIDS Clinic in Durban, South Africa Run by AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Alicia Keys and 'Keep a Child Alive' Visit AHF's Ithembalabantu Clinic, Free AIDS Clinic in Durban, South Africa Run by AIDS Healthcare Foundation

DURBAN, South Africa, April 18/PRNewswire/ --

- American Singer and 'Keep a Child Alive' Officials Visited Children and
Families Treated at Free AIDS Treatment Clinic Tuesday, April 18th

'Keep a Child Alive' (KCA) and KCA ambassador, Alicia Keys, was in
Durban, South Africa today to visit 'Keep a Child Alive'-sponsored sites
including AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Ithembalabantu (Zulu for 'people's
hope') Healthcare Center, located in Umlazi and which provides free medical
care and anti-retroviral treatment to children and their families living with
HIV/AIDS. KCA provides crucial support and funding to clinics that provide
lifesaving anti-retroviral treatment and services to keep children alive.

In South Africa, one of the sites that KCA helps fund is AHF's
Ithembalabantu Healthcare Center, which cares for thousands of South
Africans, more than 1,500 of whom receive lifesaving anti-retroviral therapy
through the facility. More than 70% of the clinic's clients and patients are
women, many with children and families. The clinic is operated by AIDS
Healthcare Foundation.

"We are honored that Alicia Keys, Leigh Blake and the 'Keep a Child
Alive' group visited today with patients and clients at AHF's Ithembalabantu
Healthcare Center in Umlazi," said Terri Ford, AHF's Director of Global
Advocacy. "We are particularly grateful to KCA and Ms. Keys, as they were the
first source of outside funding for this clinic, which has been providing
care and free anti-retroviral drugs since it first opened in February 2002.
Prior to their contribution, AHF had been self-funding all the care and
services at this site, so we have a special place in our hearts for their
generosity. KCA's focus on bringing treatment to children and their families
has also helped us to expand our pediatric treatment at Ithembalabantu, and
with their support, we were able to hire a pediatrician. On behalf of the
children and families who now have access to ARV treatment and are doing
well, we thank Ms. Keys and 'Keep a Child Alive' for their generosity and for
coming today to see firsthand the impact that their kindness is having in the
fight against AIDS in South Africa."

The group spent about two hours visiting with a few hundred
Ithembalabantu patients, about 50 of whom were children. The children sang
songs to the group and then presented Ms. Keys and the KCA group with letters
and drawings they had done as a 'thank you' for supporting the Ithembalabantu
clinic. Lydia Nyide, a grandmother and 'Go Go Grannie,' who is caring for two
of her grandchildren after her daughter and son-in-law died of AIDS, spoke of
her gratitude to Ms. Keys and KCA for supporting the clinic, which cares for
her granddaughter, Phulma, 8, who has AIDS but is doing well on ARVs she
receives from the clinic.

After the singing and presentations, Ms. Keys and the group from KCA then
helped distribute lunches and holiday treats to the children and their
families.

The goal of this collaboration between 'Keep a Child Alive' and AHF in
South Africa has been to provide care and treatment to children and families
living with HIV/AIDS.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) the largest US AIDS organization,
operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Asia, and in Latin
America/Caribbean.

Source: AIDS Healthcare Foundation

South Africa, Terri Ford, Director of Global Advocacy, South Africa mobile, +27-83-3311311, or global mobile, +1-213-399-1001, terrif@aidshealth.org, or Ged Kenslea, Communications Director, +1-323-860-5225, or mobile, +1-323-791-5526, both of AIDS Healthcare Foundation

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