A cutting-edge organization that's helped millions
Beyond its work as a highly effective global AIDS organization, the AHF story also provides a blueprint for every kind of righteous rebel who wants to make the world a better place.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Story
A cutting-edge organization that's helped millions
Beyond its work as a highly effective global AIDS organization, the AHF story also provides a blueprint for every kind of righteous rebel who wants to make the world a better place.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Story
Explore the Inspirational World of AHF
Keep The Promise 2016: Durban, South Africa
The People's Hope
AIDS is a Civil Rights Issue: Los Angeles
"At AHF, like-minded activists around the world banded together to create a life-saving movement -- and became a real-life, global example of 'people power' in action."
-- Righteous Rebels
AHF Timeline – 1986-2015
1986
Los Angeles activists start Stop the AIDS Quarantine Committee to defeat California’s Proposition 64, a statewide ballot measure that could create “concentration camps” for people living with HIV and AIDS. The quarantine committee is instrumental in defeating the initiative.
1986
Soon after the Proposition 64 victory, Stop the AIDS Quarantine Committee members start Los Angeles AIDS Hospice Committee. The new advocacy group holds a high-profile public hearing on the AIDS crisis in Los Angeles County. The event details the numerous failures of local government to adequately serve people living with AIDS.
1987
L.A. AIDS Hospice Committee members create AIDS Hospice Foundation, which starts with only one, full-time employee and a $50,000 budget. The foundation advocates for hospice care for terminally ill AIDS patients in L.A. County.
1988
AHF opens Chris Brownlie Hospice near Dodger Stadium to provide humane, dignified care for terminally ill AIDS patients. Nearly 1,200 people die at the facility between 1988 and 1996.
1989
AHF co-founder Chris Brownlie dies from AIDS.
1990
AIDS Hospice Foundation changes name to AIDS Healthcare Foundation, starting the transition into a medical-care provider for people with HIV and AIDS.
1990
In Los Angeles, AHF opens its first Out of the Closet thrift store—the organization’s first venture into self-sustaining “social enterprise.” The thrift store turns into a nationwide chain.
1991
In Los Angeles, AHF opens its first healthcare clinic for people living with HIV/AIDS. Two decades later, the organization manages more than 220 free HIV treatment clinics in more than 30 countries.
1992
AHF opens Carl Bean House in underserved South Los Angeles—the hospice facility offers care to terminally ill African American and Latino patients with AIDS.
1995
AHF launches the nation’s first capitated managed care program, Positive Healthcare, for people living with AIDS.
1996
AHF opens its last hospice facility: Linn House in West Hollywood, California.
1996
To ensure that AHF patients have access to the new, life-saving “AIDS cocktail,” the organization pays for the expensive medication out of pocket with no government reimbursement. AHF faces financial ruin, but pulls through.
2000
With nearly 8,200 clients, AHF becomes the largest non-profit provider of HIV/AIDS medical care in the U.S.
2000
In Los Angeles, AHF opens its first pharmacy—another venture in social enterprise. By 2014, AHF Pharmacy, which generates crucial revenue that funds the organization’s global program, expands to 37 outlets across the U.S.
2002
Despite strong opposition from the South African government, AHF opens its first free HIV treatment center outside the U.S. in Umlazi, South Africa. Started as a 100-person “pilot program,” the clinic serves more than 12,000 clients by 2014.
2002
AHF opens a free HIV treatment center in Masaka, Uganda. It grows from a 100-person pilot program to serving more than 10,000 clients in 2014. Across the country, AHF serves more than 47,000 clients in 2014.
2003
AHF plays key role in the creation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the landmark global AIDS program pushed forward by U.S. President George W. Bush. Millions of AIDS sufferers around the world now have better access to life-saving antiretroviral drug therapy.
2004
AHF continues to fight aggressively for lower HIV drug prices so people around the globe have better access to antiretroviral therapy.
2005
AHF provides free HIV treatment services in the U.S., Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.
2006
With an operating budget of $128 million, AHF serves more than 53,000 clients in more than 15 countries.
2007
AHF’s marketing department develops social media campaigns to educate a younger generation about the continued threat of AIDS.
2009
AHF creates its own brand of free, high-quality condoms, and distributes millions around the globe.
2010
AHF conducts “Testing America” tour, providing free HIV testing in 48 states and raising awareness about HIV and AIDS. AHF also holds “die-ins” in the U.S. to protest rising drug costs.
2011
AHF conducts more than 500,000 free HIV tests worldwide. AHF serves 166,000 clients in 25 countries.
2012
AHF launches “Condom Nation” campaign, which distributes free condoms across the U.S. and raises awareness about safer sex.
2013
AHF serves 276,000 clients in 32 countries and operates with an $857-million budget. AHF performs nearly two million free HIV tests worldwide and distributes nearly 34 million free condoms.
2013
AHF kicks off “20x20” campaign, which challenges the world to bring 20 million people into HIV treatment by the year 2020. AHF pledges to provide care for one million of them.
2015
Twenty-eight years after its founding, AHF hits major milestone, serving more than 500,000 clients around the globe.
The Author
Patrick Range McDonald was a longtime staff writer at L.A. Weekly, one of the top alternative newspapers in the United States. He won numerous awards, including “Journalist of the Year” from the Los Angeles Press Club, the “Public Service” award from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, and the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.
He was also co-writer of former Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan’s memoir, "The Mayor: How I Turned Around Los Angeles After Riots, an Earthquake and the O.J. Simpson Murder Trial." The well-received book landed on the New York Times and Los Angeles Times best seller lists.
During his research for "Righteous Rebels," McDonald traveled all over the United States and to 14 countries on five continents, seeing firsthand the invaluable work of AHF and its hard-charging crusade to change the world.