Global AIDS Healthcare Foundation gains financial transparency to save lives

Breakthroughs in HIV/AIDS treatments have enabled most HIV-infected patients with good healthcare to live full lives. This leads many people who live in developed countries to assume that AIDS is under control. Not so. HIV/AIDS is decimating marginalized populations in countries where awareness and healthcare are scarce. 

According to UNAIDS, in 2023, an estimated 1.3 million people contracted HIV, and 630,000 died from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) as a result of an HIV infection. 

Fighting the good fight with the right stuff

Always on guard, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) advocates for AIDS patients and distributes life-saving HIV medicines that prevent transmission. AHF has played a leading role in HIV/AIDs healthcare since it opened a hospice in 1987 to “fight for the living and care for the dying.” Today, the foundation serves over 2.2 million people in 47 countries worldwide by providing the HIV medicines that save  lives. 

But that’s not all. Over the years, AHF has learned that living situations affect access to healthcare and, therefore, controlling AIDS requires a holistic approach, from developing low-income housing to offering pharmaceutical services. AHF’s mission is to prioritize people over profit through its “AHF Circle of Care.” 

To do so, AHF offers a range of nonprofit services–medical care, pharmaceutical, and other support programs—all designed to accommodate an HIV patient’s journey, regardless of their financial status. AHF generates revenue primarily by billing insurance providers for HIV patient medications. And, the more efficiently its finance system runs, the more patients AHF can reach.

Accurate data is essential for an effective and equitable global HIV response

AHF co-founder and president Michael Weinstein is wary of inaccurate statistics that can create a false sense of progress, weakening political will, funding, and momentum for HIV/AIDs prevention. The foundation relies on accurate data on the spread of HIV to inform financial planning that supports global services from pharmacy distribution to healthcare centers. In order to leverage one set of data across 47 countries, AHF decided to move to the cloud.

According to Lyle Honig Mojica, CFO, “AHF operates in 47 countries, managing over 250,000 monthly transactions and thousands of bills daily. Having full visibility into our sales cycle and related documentation within one, cloud-based system is crucial.” 

To reflect the realities of all populations–especially marginalized groups—and ensure an equitable HIV/AIDS response, AHF’s cloud-based finance system supports real-time data sharing and analysis. It also helps AHF gauge the effectiveness of advocacy campaigns designed to generate awareness.

Data says: provocative campaigns spark controversy and awareness 

Now AHF runs data-driven advocacy campaigns to get the word out. For example, a provocative billboard campaign in Uganda looking to promote sexual health awareness, asked: “Is your spouse cheating?” As anticipated, this sparked controversy as well as a community discussion that significantly raised public awareness. AHF repurposes successful campaigns like this for use in other regions by tailoring the messaging to unique cultural and local sensitivities. 

By analyzing real-time KPI data from ongoing awareness campaigns—such as an increase in new patients—AHF can ensure future campaigns are both effective and appropriate. 

47 countries share financial transparency from 1 integrated system 

47:1 – AHF met its overall objective for a cloud-based finance system that would align operations across regional bureaus worldwide with updated financial management and associated data workflows. AHF’s technology partner, Nagarro, played a crucial role in ensuring AHF fully leveraged its new cloud-based ERP solution. 

“As SAP digital architects, Nagarro helped AHF understand the benefits of redesigned business processes provided by SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition before implementation, guiding us to avoid replicating old processes,” explains Mojica. “They encouraged us to adopt SAP best practices, even when it meant challenging familiar methods.”

The new system has transformed patient healthcare and advocacy services. Now, data processing is automated with centralized records. And, core finance accounting processes payments in minutes with real-time data access and cost-source transparency to high volumes of pharmaceutical sales transactions. 

250K average monthly prescriptions transacted with transparency

As a result, AHF can manage the financial data of more than 250,000 monthly transactions across 47 countries with transparency. By integrating all business lines, AHF enhances workflows gaining real-time oversight of processed payments with access to financial data—covering sales, costs, and expenses. 

“Advocating patient care with real-time data, rather than wasting time looking for vital information, empowers our administrators and operational staff to make quicker decisions,” says Mojica. 

To provide transparency into financial transactions, the cloud-based system streamlines data encompassing 12 subsystems, 23 domestic company codes, 65 global entities in group reporting, 938 profit centers, and 166 plants. This enables daily insights into accurate tracking despite cost fluctuations and high, global transaction volumes. 

Tossing a lifeline to more than 2 million people around the world

With HIV and AIDS-related infections continuing to grow at an alarming rate, optimizing processes globally ensures more patients receive critical care sooner. For example, health information processing varies by location, need, application and settings; therefore, sharing patient financial data between systems streamlines AHF administration.

With enhanced data sharing, AHF operates more efficiently worldwide to double down on its mission to serve the most vulnerable people by promoting comprehensive HIV/AIDS care worldwide.

For their extraordinary accomplishments, AHF was selected as an SAP Innovation Award 2025 winner in the Cloud ERP Champion category. Learn more about the cloud-based deployment from the AHF pitch deck.  Watch their World AIDS Day 2024 Global Recap video to see awareness in action.