Common, Patti LaBelle 'Keep the Promise' at AHF's World AIDS Day Event

On November 30 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, the�AIDS Healthcare Foundation presents their Keep the Promise Around the Globe in a Day advocacy effort.

The event, hosted by critically acclaimed actress/choreographer Rosie Perez, will begin with a large Keep the Promise March on Hollywood Boulevard leading to a free concert at the theater with special performances by Grammy Award-winners Patti LaBelle and Common, as well as JoJo, Espinoza Paz, and B-Flow, plus Latin singer/actor Jencarlos Canela. Keep the Promise will also honor legendary entertainer Harry Belafonte with AHF's Lifetime Achievement Award for his charitable efforts and advocacy around the world.

The event is part of AHF's Around the Globe in a Day initiative, a series of events across the world to commemorate World AIDS Day and continue to spread awareness about HIV and AIDS. The activities will include free concerts in Cambodia, Mexico City and the United States as well as free awareness and testing events throughout the U.S., Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Asia.�

Since its inception in 1987, AHF has been a provider of HIV prevention services, testing, and healthcare for patients living with HIV.�The mission of Around the Globe in a Day, Keep the Promise and AHF's other efforts all over the world is to accelerate the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Speaking about their efforts, AHF's President Michael Weinstein said, "Our hope is that our upcoming World AIDS Day Keep the Promise concert and march serve as a potent reminder that the fight against HIV/AIDS is not yet won and that these events serve as a clarion call to action. The irony is that we are the victims of our own success: As the AIDS situation improves, with better treatments and more people being able to access them, the urgency of winning the war against AIDS here in the U.S. and around the globe has diminished."

"As a result, HIV/AIDS is increasingly pitted against other important issues as far as funding as well as for the attention of policy makers," he continued. "It is critical that we�continue�to speak out through events like KTP in order to remind governments, public health officials and other stakeholders to keep the promise on AIDS and other key public health issues."

The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is a global non-profit organization providing cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 641,000 people in 37 countries. They are currently the largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care in the U.S.

AHF funds its mission to rid the world of AIDS through a network of pharmacies, thrift stores, healthcare contracts and other strategic partnerships. Generating new, innovative ways of treatment, prevention and advocacy has been the hallmark of AHF's success. They are currently leading a mass testing initiative to identify and treat the 25 million people who are unaware they are infected.
�
By advocating big goals -- such as having 1 billion people tested each year -- AHF hopes to eliminate older, more time-consuming methods. Since 1987, AHF has cared for thousands of people living with HIV and AIDS worldwide. As they create and implement new programs in communities across the U.S. and abroad, they expand delivery of healthcare and influence over policy with the aim of saving more lives.
�
Keep the Promise is free and open to the public. KTP Marchers will begin gathering at 5 p.m. on Schrader Blvd. south of Hollywood Blvd., Those who march will be given priority seating for the concert. The concert will begin at 7 p.m. and participants can register to attend online at http://ahfwad.org/

For more information on AHF, visit www.aidshealth.org.