CNN Heroes: Jesus Aguais - En Espanol

In the 11 years since the foundation started, Aguais, now 39, has legally redistributed $40 million worth of HIV medications to more than 3,000 people in 27 countries.

Aid for AIDS is now the largest HIV drug-recycling program in the world, collecting $7 million worth of medications so far this year.

"People can send it directly to us, or in New York City we can pick it up," Aguais said. "And we send that on a monthly basis straight to the doctor or the patient."

Aid for AIDS offices in Venezuela, Panama, Chile, Peru and the Dominican Republic provide counseling, training and medical care for those afflicted, but there's still more to be done. The group estimates it's barely scraping the surface of recoverable unused drugs in the West that are eligible for redistribution.

An estimated 80 percent of people living with HIV outside the developed world have no access to health care and life-saving drugs, according to amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research.

"People need this medicine," Aguais said. "We need to get it to them. This is a matter of saving life. It's a responsibility. I see it as what I'm here to do."

"The simplest idea can make the biggest impact ... recycling HIV medicine. How many people out there are looking for medicine? And how many people with HIV in the United States have no idea that they could save a life with something that is just a leftover for them?"

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• CNN
• Heroes
• Jesus
• Aguais
• HIV
• AIDS
• Hiv
• Medicine
• Recycling
• AID
• FOR
• grassroots
• outreach
• nonprofit