The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation originated in 1988 with recognition of the urgent need to help children living with HIV infection. At that time, gaps in knowledge resulted in a lack of services and care for children. The Foundation sought to fill these gaps in the management and care of HIV-infected children and their families, with early funding targeted to research on pediatric HIV and prevention of mother-to-child transmission. The Foundation’s commitment to these priorities has stayed constant as its scope has broadened to a global stage. We now have a presence in 18 countries around the world.

View an interactive map of our International Family AIDS Initiatives.

The Foundation's International Family AIDS Initiatives have the following essential mandates:

• Increasing access to services for prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT);
• Increasing access to care and treatment for children and families, including antiretroviral therapy (ART);
• Linking PMTCT services to care and treatment in order to provide a continuum of care;
• Researching and identifying better technologies and interventions in PMTCT and care and treatment;
• Documenting replicable models in PMTCT and care and treatment; and
• Training research and program leaders to advance all of the above.

Programs 

Download our complete International Family AIDS Initiatives PDF.

As a result of successful research efforts supported by the Foundation and others, in the late 1990s it became possible to substantially reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV with antiretroviral drug treatment. However, while HIV infections have declined dramatically in the United States and other developed nations, the number of HIV infections in the developing world, including those in children, has exploded. More than 1,000 children are infected with HIV every day, the vast majority of them newborns. An estimated two-thirds of adults and children living with HIV globally reside in sub-Saharan Africa, although incidence of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is increasing in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Program

In 2000, the Foundation established the Call to Action Project to bring simplified regimens for PMTCT of HIV to families in developing countries. This program represents a cornerstone of the Foundation’s International Family AIDS Initiatives.

Since the program's inception, the Foundation has led the way internationally in the provision of PMTCT services. The Foundation is currently working in more than 3,200 sites around the world. As of June 30, 2008, the Foundation's programs have reached more than 5.7 million women with access to services to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to babies. More than 4.8 million women have been tested for HIV through our programs.

However, even with this progress, the need remains great: More than three-quarters of HIV-positive pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries do not receive the medicines they need to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies.

The Foundation is currently supporting PMTCT programs in Cameroon, China, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Russia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Care and Treatment Program

Despite progress in expanding access to antiretroviral drugs, currently ART reaches only about one in five of those who need it in low-and middle-income countries. In 2004, the Foundation launched Project HEART, the second key facet of the Foundation’s International Family AIDS Initiatives, to help fill this gap in access to care and treatment. Through Project HEART, care and treatment services have been built onto successful PMTCT and affiliated programs in Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, and Swaziland. These programs provide critically needed services, including ART, to save lives, preserve families, and restore hope in communities devastated by HIV.

Death in HIV-infected children is estimated to occur in 35 percent of cases by the age of one year, in 50 percent by the age of two years, and in 60 percent by the age of three years. Identification of HIV-exposed and/or -infected children has thus become a critically important objective for our International Family AIDS Initiatives.

The Foundation has led the way in the provision of care and treatment services, placing a particular emphasis on the inclusion of children. As of June 30, 2008, more than 470,000 individuals have been enrolled into our care and support programs, including more than 39,000 children. Of those ever enrolled, more than 260,000 individuals have begun ART, including more than 20,000 children under the age of 15. The Foundation is also aggressively pursuing a 15 percent treatment goal for children, aiming to ensure that 15 percent of its patients receiving care and treatment are children.

International Family AIDS Initiatives

The program names Call to Action and Project HEART were initially conceived to differentiate the Foundation's PMTCT programs from care and treatment programs. Now, as our programs enjoy tremendous growth around the world, they are expanding to include a full range of critically needed services, including antenatal care, PMTCT, and care and treatment. Given these factors, the Foundation has decided to brand its international programs with one umbrella name, International Family AIDS Initiatives, that not only reflects our current work, but also is flexible enough to allow for future Foundation growth.

The Foundation's International Family AIDS Initiatives are supported with resources from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), as well as essential private contributions from corporations, foundations, and individuals.