Foundation Blog
News, commentary, and voices in the efforts to eliminate HIV and AIDS in children worldwide.
(Photo: EGPAF/Mia Collis)
Much progress has been made in recent years in the fight against HIV. Earlier this month, a new study was released confirming that using antiretroviral drugs to treat an HIV-infected person is a very effective way to prevent HIV transmission to another person.
However, today, as we commemorate HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, we're reminded that the science of an HIV vaccine is still beyond our grasp. Vitally important for infants and young children, as well as adults, an HIV vaccine would possibly set the stage for a lifetime of immunity to the virus.
Click past the jump to read more from the Foundation's Director of Clinical and Basic Research Dr. Jeffrey T. Safrit, about HIV vaccine studies, and how a vaccine could change the face of HIV.
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Posted by
Robert Yule
Washington, D.C.
May 16, 2011
Last week, we were reading several articles about a “groundbreaking” and “landmark” new AIDS study involving both treatment and prevention of HIV.
The HPTN 052 study used HIV treatment as a means of preventing sexual transmission of the virus within couples where one partner is HIV-positive, and the other is HIV-negative.
Continue past the jump to read more about this important study and to find out what other global health leaders are saying about it.
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Posted by
Mercy Nyanda
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
May 11, 2011
Tanzanian First Lady Madam Salma
Kikwete at the new maternity ward at the
Mangaka Health Centre
(Photo: EGPAF/Mercy Nyanda)
Last month, the opening of a new maternity ward in the Mtwara region of Tanzania received national attention when the Tanzanian First Lady arrived in person to lend her support.
Madam Salma Kikwete, who has long been a strong advocate in the fight against HIV, joined us as the guest of honor at the Foundation-supported facility in the Nanyumbu District.
Click past the jump for a first-hand account of the event from the Foundation's Program Coordinator for Communications and Outreach in Tanzania, Mercy Nyanda.
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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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