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ASA - The Organization"Associazione Solidarietà AIDS" (AIDS Solidarity Association), also known as ASA, is a legally registered not-governative, not-for-profit advocacy organization. ASA was founded in 1985 in a situation of extreme difficulty, when the current knowledge on transmission and evolution of AIDS was very confused and contradictory. Initially ASA offered only a hot line service for counseling service. Soon the evidence arose, that AIDS, beyond the physical problems, was impacting and challenging as well personal values and certainties. This was the starting point of ASA's interpreation of "solidarity" not as mere assistance and charity, but as restoring self-dignity as well as enhancing self-respect. In February 1987, ASA set up the first self-help group for HIV people in Italy. In the summer of the same year, ASA started providing a homecare and social assistance service. Over the years more than 300 people took benefit from this service. Many more received assistance through ASA's daily counseling services: person-to-person and via phone and the Internet. In 1989 ASA officially joined the National Register of Voluntary Services. The Association is memebr to ICASO and EUROCASO, the International and European Federations of NGOs (Non-Governative Organizations) committed to the fight against AIDS. ASA was a member of the Health Ministery National Council for the Fight against AIDS and is also represented on the one set up by the municipality of Milan. The organization operates in Lombardy area (Milan and country). Although its activity is local, ASA always played the role of introducing and experiencing new methods and strategies, which are then followed and applied at a national level by the other Italian AIDS organizations. For this reason, ASA is also an important reference point also outside Italy. ASA organizes meeting, debates, lectures and all kind of promotional events in order to spread as much as possible the information on state-of-the-art research and available treatments against HIV/AIDS. The organization produces informational material and issues the bimonthly newsletter "EssePiù". The Direction Board of ASA includes nine people. The President is Vittoria D'Avanzo. Over 200 people are directly involved in volounteering activities while five people are full-time operators. ASA currently has more than 220 registered supportes, 56 of them as honorary members.
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The PatronageA Sponsorship Committee was established in June 1992 with the following patrons:
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