Who We Are

History

Founded in 1996 by Jesús Aguais, AID FOR AIDS was first conceived as a simple idea of recycling unused, unexpired HIV medication and redistributing them to those without access to the costly medicines around the world.

In 1996, the increased availability of antiretroviral therapy had a profound impact on AIDS mortality rates in the United States. Yet in developing countries, life-saving medication remained difficult and expensive to access, while the number of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths continued to climb.

Jesús Aguais, an AIDS activist from Venezuela, was working as a counselor at the HIV Clinic of St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in New York City during this time. He noticed patients would frequently changed their antiretroviral treatment regimens, discarding many of the unused pills. Instead of allowing this perfectly good medication to go to waste, Jesús began collecting it in a drawer in his office, urging friends and clients to pass on their leftover medication whenever possible.

One day, an elderly woman came into the clinic to meet Jesús, the person she had heard about back in her home country. She had sold all of her possessions to travel from Venezuela and plead with him to help her family. Although the clinic could do nothing for her HIV-positive relatives, the medications saved in his drawer were the same antiretrovirals the woman needed for her family—medication they did not have access to in Venezuela.

This one woman and her struggle to find treatment represented to Jesús the thousands of people impacted by HIV worldwide in developing countries. She, and the countless people like her, inspired him to mobilize a group of dedicated and determined individuals to begin AID FOR AIDS. The organization has grown to include not only the largest HIV Medicine Recycling Program in the world, but also education, prevention, training, and advocacy programs that target people with HIV in developing countries.