Aidsfonds Friends Fund

Mission Statement 

We strive for a world where there are no longer any deaths from AIDS, where people enjoy good sexual health, and a cure is available for all people living with HIV. A world in which everyone can love freely and without fear. We do this by working together with the communities who are hit hardest by HIV, STIs, discrimination and exclusion. We strengthen their voice and support them with information, knowledge and funding. For all that is love.

Ending AIDS together

Aidsfonds is a Dutch organisation that also works internationally. Working with communities as equals is at the heart of all our work. We conduct research and ensure that HIV, AIDS and STIs remain high on the agenda worldwide. The approach we have adopted worldwide with communities to tackle power and gender inequality is the same approach we will adopt in the Netherlands to intensify the fight against STIs. Together we are working to find a cure for HIV.

We focus our efforts where the need is greatest – and where we can make the most meaningful and lasting difference. We focus our work in the Netherlands, Indonesia, Eastern and Southern Africa, West Asia and North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Our history

Aidsfonds has been around for almost 40 years. The story about our organisation began in 1985, when a group of gay men in Amsterdam could no longer see many of their friends dying of AIDS. They wanted to do something. What started as a fundraising campaign for Christmas hampers for people living with HIV and AIDS, developed into Aidsfonds.

Our focus projects

Key Populations 

Aidsfonds is committed to the health and rights of people living with HIV, and groups with a higher risk of HIV, such as LGBTQI+ populations. We focus on addressing the urgent unmet needs of key populations. We provide support for community-led HIV services—including prevention, testing, and treatment—with efforts to generate demand for lifesaving HIV services, and ensuring reduced inequalities, including stigma, discrimination, and criminalisation.

The EmpowHER Fund

The EmpowHER Fund envisions a world where women and girls in all their diversity can truly use the HIV-prevention method of their choice. Yet, in sub-Saharan Africa girls and young women still bear the greatest burden of HIV infections, accounting for nearly 63% of all new infections. New and emerging HIV-prevention options, including Lenacapavir offer a critical opportunity to expand choice and make sure women and girls find the method that best fit their needs. The EmpowHER Fund seeks to accelerate the roll out of existing and groundbreaking new HIV prevention options and enable women and girls to access them.

Pediatric HIV Programs 

Aidsfonds’ paediatric HIV programme focuses the missing children with HIV: the estimated 43% of children aged 0-14 with HIV who are not on treatment, including the 37% who are undiagnosed. Our Paediatric HIV Program addresses the pediatric HIV treatment gap in Sub-Saharan Africa by finding, testing, treating, and retaining children living with HIV in care, especially in underserved areas. By working hand in hand with communities, we ensure that children living with HIV do not fall through the cracks.

HIV Cure 

We believe a cure is within reach, but it demands sustained research, time and funding. That is why Aidsfonds is actively mobilising resources and partnerships to accelerate progress. Since 2018, we have led efforts to shift the Dutch HIV research landscape from competition to collaboration – positioning ourselves as a key player in global cure research. We focus on inclusive solutions – particularly for people living with HIV in low- and middle-income settings.