President's Message: October 2010
Posted by
Charles Lyons
Washington, D.C.
October 22, 2010
I’m writing this message after a recent trip to Lesotho – a small country in the middle of South Africa, with the third-highest HIV prevalence rate in the world. Lesotho is called the African “Kingdom in the Sky” for a reason – its mountainous terrain poses constant challenges to the way we deliver critical and lifesaving services. Innovation is, and will continue to be, the key to our success there.
(Photo: Jon Hrusa)
I had the opportunity to see examples of that resourcefulness first-hand while visiting a Foundation-supported hospital outside Maseru, Lesotho’s capital city. Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV is well integrated into this particular facility’s maternal and child health program—and it shows. From January to June of this year, 114 HIV-positive women gave birth. Of these, 108 of their babies were born HIV-negative, with just six found to be HIV-positive. That's less than a 6 percent transmission rate. Just 5 years ago, without the work of the Foundation, this rate could have been as much as 25 percent.
(Photo: Jon Hrusa)
The Foundation has also helped to start a program called “
Horse-riding for Health,” where specially-bred ponies climb Lesotho’s mountainous terrain—to bring health care services, including HIV/AIDS testing and treatment, to those children, women, and families who are desperate for even basic care.
(Photo: Jon Hrusa)
Clearly, Lesotho is moving toward the goal of elimination of pediatric AIDS – and I’m proud of the impact the Foundation has made there. At the Maseru hospital I visited, I looked at a logbook and chose a name at random. I was told that the woman and her husband were both HIV-positive. The woman gave birth to twin boys in April. Both babies......HIV negative.
Our work is making a difference. And it’s with that type of progress—and your continued support—that we can eliminate pediatric AIDS.
Charles Lyons
President and CEO, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation