Musician Wyclef Jean to Headline “Keep the Promise” AIDS March on Washington

WASHINGTON D.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is pleased to announce that Wyclef Jean—Grammy award-winning musician, songwriter, producer and humanitarian of international acclaim—will join the “Keep the Promise” March on Washington as the headliner. Wyclef will join civil rights leader Ambassador Andrew Young on stage at the Washington Monument grounds to perform and rally the crowd of more than 10,000 people before the start of the March on Sunday, July 22, 2012—just prior to the opening ceremonies of the XIX International AIDS Conference.

“The ‘Keep the Promise on HIV/AIDS’ March presents an ideal opportunity for AIDS advocates and organizations the world over to join together and have our collective voices heard to press US and world leaders to do the right thing on AIDS funding, care and treatment.”

Wyclef joins 2,219 individuals and 1,373 organizations from 98 countries in supporting the “Keep the Promise” Declaration and March.

The ‘Keep the Promise’ rally and march will serve as a clarion call for universal access to AIDS care and treatment; for more efficient use of the limited funding from sources including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR); for big world economies and the G20 to fully fund the Global Fund as well as for the lowering of AIDS drug prices by pharmaceutical companies to allow for the treatment of more patients with the same amount of money. More information about the “Keep the Promise” coalition and March can be found at www.keepthepromise2012.org and by following the group on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/keepthepromise2012) and on Twitter @AIDSMarch2012.

“We are so excited to welcome Wyclef Jean to the ‘Keep the Promise’ March on Washington,” said Terri Ford, AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Senior Director of Global Policy and Advocacy. “His passion and activist spirit, along with his inspirational music, is absolutely the right fit to highlight the crisis that HIV/AIDS remains around the world.”

Since his rise to prominence on the Hip Hop and R&B scene in the 1990s until today, Wyclef’s music has always been tied to his charitable and advocacy work in his native Haiti and around the world. Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Wyclef and Yéle Haiti Foundation—which he founded in 2005—helped mobilize international support for humanitarian aid and assistance to the country. In 2009, he shared the BET Humanitarian of the Year award with Alicia Keys and also performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo. In 2006, Wyclef performed at the UNAIDS-organized Evening of Remembrance and Hope: Uniting the World Against AIDS in New York City, commemorating 25 years of AIDS.

“For the first time in over twenty years, the International AIDS Conference takes place in the United States—in Washington—and just a few months before the 2012 presidential election,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “The ‘Keep the Promise on HIV/AIDS’ March presents an ideal opportunity for AIDS advocates and organizations the world over to join together and have our collective voices heard to press US and world leaders to do the right thing on AIDS funding, care and treatment.”

Please click here to read the “Keep the Promise on HIV/AIDS” Declaration.

Background on the 2012 XIX International AIDS Conference

According to the website of the International AIDS Society, “The return of the International AIDS Conference to the United States in July 2012 represents a significant victory for public health and human rights. The selection of Washington, DC as the site for the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) is the result of years of dedicated advocacy to end the nation’s misguided entry restrictions on people living with HIV – restrictions that were based on fear, rather than science.

The biennial International AIDS Conference is the premier gathering for those working in the field of HIV, as well as policymakers, people living with HIV and others committed to ending the epidemic. It will be a tremendous opportunity for researchers from around the world to share the latest scientific advances in the field, learn from one another’s expertise, and develop strategies for advancing all facets of our collective efforts to treat and prevent HIV.

AIDS 2012 is expected to convene more than 25,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries, including more than 2,500 journalists. The conference will be held from 22 to 27 July 2012 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The International AIDS Society, the world's leading independent association of HIV professionals, with 14,000 members in 190 countries, will organize AIDS 2012 in collaboration with our international and local partners.”

For more information on the 2012 ‘Keep the Promise on HIV/AIDS’ March in Washington or to sign up and join as an endorsing and supporting organization, please visit www.keepthepromise2012.org.

About AIDS Healthcare Foundation

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 166,000 individuals in 26 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare.

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