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| PHP Founders, Michele Rigaud, Virginia Irwin and Rocio Loor, December 1988 |
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In 1987 these 3 women started to respond to the beginning of HIV/AIDS in the community of women and children particularly in the area of South Florida (Belle Glade, Miami, ) Initially this NGO was registered as Women International AIDS Network in Florida. WIAN was fortunate to be awarded in 1988, a $50,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control to educate women of color and or Caribbean descent on HIV/AIDS prevention. Later that year as we prepared additional programs for funding, we were told that the disease was not of interest in the women population and that funding for that group was non existant. It was a white gay disease and funding will be strictly allocated to groups and government programs addressing the gay population. Note in 2011: Today women are the most affected and infected groups worldwide.
We chose to expand our presence and changed the name in 1990 to Partners in Health Protection, Inc. The founder Michele Rigaud and her colleagues from University of Miami, Dr. Rocio Loor and Virginia Irwin were instrumental in facilitating the programs for prevention of HIV, Hepatitis B and Tuberculosis.
We had a strong presence in Atlanta, Georgia, in Sweeden at the International AIDS conference, in Washington DC and in South Florida. We were pioneers in the fight against AIDS for women. We were the voices, the presence and the support that was needed. We kept the pressure and together with other small groups across the country but primarily in Europe, we did not stop. We may have not make a big difference in slowing down the progress of the disease in women, particularly women of color, but we remember the road block that we had to overcome to speak up and be heard.
And that has made PHP the advocate for women that it is today. We continue to conduct interventions for adolescent girls in the area of leadership, empowermnet, selfworth and dream builders. We extend our expertise to other organizations that are founded and operated by women as well as organizations that provide services to women and children.
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Vision Statement
Partners in Health Protection, Inc (PHP) was founded in 1987 to provide technical assistance and support to government and non-government organizations to address the health and welfare needs of women and adolescents worldwide. PHP is a 501 (c) 3 non profit organization operating in Maryland and Florida primarily, and serving various populations nationally and internationally. Our staff, consultants, and volunteers consist of seriously committed and dedicated corps of health care providers, students and business professionals who serve community-based organizations by assisting with the development, implementation and evaluation of sound public health and environmental programs.
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| PHP logo, 1987 |
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| PHP Achievement |
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| PHP Logo, revised in 2010 |
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