Foundation Blog
News, commentary, and voices in the efforts to eliminate HIV and AIDS in children worldwide.
Posted by
Evan Von Leer
Washington, D.C.
May 4, 2011
Just two weeks ago, we announced right here on our blog that we were nominated for a Webby Award in the Public Service and Activism, Online Film and Video category, and that we needed your help to win. Well, you spoke up and your voice was heard!
We are proud (and excited) to announce that we have won not one, but two awards -- a Webby Award, and a Webby People's Voice Award -- for our advocacy video, The Time to Eliminate Pediatric AIDS Is Now.
Click past the jump to learn more about the Awards and for some words of thanks from all of us at the Foundation for helping carry us to the win.
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Posted by
Eric Kilongi
Nairobi, Kenya
May 3, 2011
A mother and her newborn baby at the
King Sobhuza II public health unit in
Manzini, Swaziland
(Photo: EGPAF/James Pursey)
Late last week, alongside the Swaziland Ministry of Health and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Foundation marked the inauguration of the $12 million program called Eliminating Pediatric AIDS in Swaziland (EPAS).
The program-launch events began with a visit by Foundation President and CEO Chip Lyons to a public health facility in Manzini, the largest city in Swaziland that treats about 600,000 women and children every year.
The following day, more than 100 people attended a launch event in Swaziland's capital city of Mbabane, including Lyons, the Swazi Minister of Health, and the U.S. Ambassador.
Foundation Senior Regional Communications Officer Eric Kilongi was on hand and gives a first-person account of the event after the jump.
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Posted by
Robert Yule
Washington, D.C.
April 29, 2011
(Photo: EGPAF/James Pursey)
Swaziland is a small kingdom within the borders of South Africa, but it faces an outsized AIDS epidemic. It has the highest HIV prevalence of any country in the world.
One in four adults has HIV, and almost half the pregnant women who come for prenatal care also test HIV-positive.
But Swaziland is also a leader in fighting the AIDS epidemic, particularly in preventing new infections in infants and children.
Together with the Swaziland Ministry of Health and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Foundation today marked the inauguration of the $12 million program called Eliminating Pediatric AIDS in Swaziland (EPAS).
Continue past the jump to read more about this groundbreaking project which will ensure that all children in the country are born free of HIV.
Photo: Winile is an HIV-positive, 30-year-old mother of two from Swaziland. Both of her children were delivered while she was taking medicines to prevent HIV transmission. Her youngest son, seen here, is four months old and HIV-free.
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Posted by
Jill Peterson
Kigali, Rwanda
April 28, 2011
Ziada and her daugher Shakila
ouside their home in Rwanda.
(Photo: EGPAF)
As the Senior Strategic Information Advisor for the Foundation in Rwanda, most of Jill Peterson's days are spent sitting behind a computer in the Foundation's office in Kigali, looking at data and writing reports. But occasionally, the other part of her job overseeing external communications activities in Rwanda gets her out from behind her desk and into the field, coming face-to-face with the people she helps every day.
Just a few weeks ago, Jill took a short trip with some Foundation staff to the town of Kibungo to meet a woman who had received lifesaving services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV to her daughter. Her name is Ziada, and her healthy, 16-month-old daughter is Shakila.
Click past the jump to read more about Ziada and Shakila's inspiring story.
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Posted by
Jen Pollakusky
Washington, D.C.
April 22, 2011
(Photo: EGPAF/Mia Collis)
This week, we were reading several articles about new research showing a troubling increase in drug resistance among children living with HIV and AIDS.
Articles from the British medical journal
The Lancet, MSN HealthDay News, MedPage Today, and
The Guardian all reported that within five years, many children in the study became resistant to AIDS drug regimens.
While drug resistance does occur in some people treated for HIV and AIDS, the study found the rate of resistance in children was more than double the rate of adults.
Click past the jump for a more in-depth analysis of the articles, with links to each.
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Posted by
Caroline Zinyemba
Harare, Zimbabwe
April 21, 2011
Zimbabwe Minister of Health and Child
Welfare, the Honorable Dr. H. Madzorera
has his finger pricked for a CD4 test.
(Photo: EGPAF)
Last week in Harare, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) delivered 200 medical machines critical for HIV treatment to the government of Zimbabwe. They’re called Point of Care CD4 machines, and they measure the strength of a person’s immune system.
Testing a person’s “CD4 count” is crucial for people living with HIV, because it determines when they should begin antiretroviral therapy. This is particularly important for pregnant women, because HIV treatment not only protects their own health, but increases the chances the chances they’ll have an HIV-free baby.
Click past the jump to read more about the handover ceremony, which was attended by the Foundation's country director for Zimbabwe and the country's Minister of Health and Child Welfare.
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