AHPN started working in 1997 with and for African people living with HIV and health comorbidities. Our public health remit has burgeoned and today we work with and for adult African descent and Black communities living with long term health conditions, migrant populations, Black LGBTQ+, refugees, asylum seekers and disabled people. Our vision is to narrow the health inequality gap by ensuring that Black communities in the UK have equal access to services and projects, support, programmes and information. In doing so we ensure that marginalised groups, communities and individuals share in the life, and services, on offer in the community. This is achieved through a human rights based approach that ensures that the design, delivery and monitoring of health/care services, projects & initiatives are tailored around the needs of local Black communities. 

Service users are involved in all aspects of AHPNs work. We are an organisation of the community, for the community. A majority of our staff and Trustee Board self define as living with a long term health condition. All of our volunteers have lived experience and they bring this expertise and richness to the work that they do. AHPN develops its programmes and projects in conjunction with our PIER Panel (Practice, Innovation, Experience, Research). The PIER Panel is a user-led project linked to our service-users' group which allows members with a research and policy interest to engage with AHPN on specific projects. It is made up of individuals of African heritage, with lived experience or long term health conditions and who also in addition to their lived experience contribute skills such as statistics, research skills, design, project management, office administration etc. The Pier Panel provides an independent scrutiny and monitoring function that ensures that our work is guided by the needs of our service users.