IAPAC History and Profile

Healthcare professionals and civic leaders who recognized an urgent need for a coordinated medical response to the AIDS pandemic established the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC) in 1995. At that time, there was no agency exclusively devoted to marshaling the coordinated strength of healthcare professionals worldwide to the benefit of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Nine years later, Chicago-based lAPAC – with an African Regional Office in Johannesburg and technical annexes in Washington, DC, and Toronto – represents a professional membership of 12,000-plus physicians and other healthcare professionals in over 100 countries. IAPAC’s activities are conducted by a professionally diverse staff, and are guided by an international Board of Trustees composed of highly esteemed medical, public health, and advocacy professionals from across five continents.

IAPAC is recognized under the law of the United States of America as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Working in partnership with the healthcare professions, business government, academe, and religious communities, IAPAC accomplishes its mission through a comprehensive program of education, policy and advocacy, direct technical assistance, and care provision initiatives spearheaded by physician members. Toward this end, IAPAC currently utilizes several educational and technical assistance vehicles, including a quarterly peer-reviewed clinical journal (JIAPAC); a monthly clinical summary publication (IAPAC Monthly); a comprehensive Web site, an innovative Internet-based educational program in southern Africa (I-Med Exchange); a physician exchange program (African Medical Exchange Program); and regular local, national, and international clinical symposia.

IAPAC’s strength is firmly rooted in the belief that the most effective and creative solutions to ongoing issues of access to, and provision of HIV treatment, evolve from within the association’s membership. IAPAC provides educational services to its membership on best clinical practices in managing HIV and its associated complications, while it also develops and implements innovative public healthcare policies that reflect its membership's commitment to changing the course of the HIV pandemic.

IAPAC takes seriously the mandate from its membership to advance efforts that enhance the quality of HIV care provision. In the United States, IAPAC has for years worked to expand the use of HIV clinical guidelines by HIV-treating physicians and other healthcare professionals – more than 550,000 copies of the US DHHS Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-Infected Adults and Adolescents have been distributed by IAPAC since 2000. Further, the association provides a host of physician and patient HIV care tools, including the IAPAC GRIP Guides, detailed drug monographs in an annual IAPAC Drug Guide, and frequent topical supplements to the quarterly JIAPAC. IAPAC also convenes an annual two-day conference for US-based HIV/AIDS “thought-leaders” (researchers and practitioners of HIV medicine) – the annual IAPAC Sessions – in order to facilitate critical discussion surrounding contentious issues in clinical management of HIV. In recognition of those who have and continue to lead the clinical, political, and social fight against HIV/AIDS and the drive to secure human rights, of which the right to care and treatment for HIV is but one, the association has since 1998 presented its annual Honoring Our Heroes tribute awards.

As a function of its major role in brokering international cooperation around access to appropriate HIV care, IAPAC has served as a monitor of two international drug access initiatives, and sponsors the annual International Conference on Healthcare Resource Allocation for HIV/AIDS. lAPAC has also taken the leadership role in establishing an international medical education and certification program to both strengthen and measure core clinical competencies of HIV-treating physicians in resource-limited settings. The Global AIDS Learning & Evaluation Network (GALEN) is a monumental step in ensuring access to appropriate HIV treatment, including antiretroviral therapy, in regions most affected by the pandemic. This comes in addition to IAPAC’s ongoing endeavors in southern and eastern Africa to train thousands of healthcare providers in the use of Diflucan and in prophylaxis and management of opportunistic infections through its unique role as training provider for Pfizer’s Diflucan Partnership Program.

There continue to exist a host of opportunities close at hand for crafting and implementing programs that will have a measurable impact on HIV/AIDS care throughout the world. These opportunities make it imperative for the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care – the only professional association that on both a global as well as domestic level exclusively represents HIV care providers – to advance its advocacy, education, and technical assistance initiatives.

Mission Statement
To craft and implement global educational and advocacy strategies to improve the quality of care provided to all people living with HIV/AIDS.

Vision
IAPAC envisions a world in which people living with HIV/AIDS may obtain the best healthcare available provided by physicians and allied health professionals armed with cutting-edge clinical expertise.

Board of Trustees