Foundation Blog
News, commentary, and voices in the efforts to eliminate HIV and AIDS in children worldwide.
Posted by
Robert Yule
Washington, D.C.
March 11, 2011
Foundation Ambassadors
Florida (left) and Fortunata.
Tuesday was the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, and Thursday was National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day in the U.S. – which made this week a good opportunity to reflect on the impact of the AIDS pandemic on all women and girls.
Around the globe, women are disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS. There are nearly 16 million women and girls living with the virus worldwide – including nearly 280,000 in the U.S., where women represent a quarter of all new infections.
In honor of all women and girls and the fight against HIV, we decided to showcase the stories of two amazing mothers and daughters who serve as Foundation Ambassadors.
Click past the jump to learn more about these dynamic duos, and about how they’ve dealt with HIV/AIDS in their lives.
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Posted by
Suzan Meredith
Crestwood, Kentucky
March 10, 2011
Suzan (left) and Alee Meredith.
(Photo courtesy of the Meredith family)
Today is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. HIV/AIDS affects nearly 280,000 women in the U.S., and women and girls represent a quarter of all new infections. A woman or girl tests positive for HIV every 35 minutes in the U.S. Knowing one’s HIV status is essential to stopping the spread of the virus.
To commemorate this important day, we have a guest blog written by Foundation Ambassador Suzan Meredith. Suzan unknowingly contracted HIV from a man she was engaged to at ninteen who, she was later told, had died from cancer. It wasn't until years later after starting a family that she learned she was HIV-positive. Her husband had tested negative, but their six-year-old daughter Alee, like Suzan, tested positive.
Click past the jump to read Suzan's heart-wrenching story of the day she learned of her and daughter's status, and hear, in her words, why knowing your HIV status is so important.
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Posted by
Dr. Jeffrey Safrit
Los Angeles, California
March 9, 2011
(Photo: EGPAF)
Last week, the largest North American gathering of scientists and clinicians working on HIV/AIDS and related viruses took place in Boston.
The 18th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) highlighted several studies that gave us more knowledge on how to prevent the more than 1,000 new HIV infections in children that occur around the world every day.
The Foundation's Director of Clinical and Basic Research Dr. Jeffrey Safrit was there, and provides an overview of the most significant studies for children. Read his CROI pediatric summary after the jump.
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Posted by
Robert Yule
Boston, MA
March 1, 2011
Photo: Olivier Asselin/EGPAF
Over the past few days, the Foundation has led the charge in the call for a continued commitment to pediatric HIV/AIDS research.
Just yesterday, at the 18th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), being held in Boston, MA, we announced Dr. Landon Myer of the University of Cape Town in South Africa as the recipient of the 2011 International Leadership Award.
Shortly thereafter, the Winter 2011 issue of Global Health Magazine hit newsstands featuring an article about the need for continued studies into pediatric HIV/AIDS, authored by the Foundation's Vice President of Research Dr. Laura Guay.
And earlier today, the Huffington Post published an op-ed co-authored by Dr. Nicholas Hellmann, the Foundation's Executive Vice President of Medical and Scientific Affairs, and Dr. Richard Marlink, a senior adviser to the Foundation and a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. The piece called to light the advances in pediatric HIV/AIDS research over the past two decades, and called for a renewed commitment to new studies.
Continue past the jump for more information and links to all of these articles.
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Posted by
Charles Lyons
Washington, D.C.
March 1, 2011
Foundation President and CEO
Charles Lyons in Kenya.
(Photo: Georgina Goodwin)
Top of mind for me in recent weeks—and a topic that’s been reflected in headlines around the world—is the threat of decreased U.S. Government funding for critical HIV/AIDS work. Two weeks ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would drastically cut lifesaving global health funding, including $363 million for global HIV and AIDS programs and $450 million for the Global Fund. I am deeply concerned about this legislation, which is now in the hands of the Senate.
U.S. budget problems are real—but they’re not caused by global health programs or foreign assistance, and our economic difficulties won’t be solved by cutting these lifesaving programs.
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In 2001, a few hundred UCLA students attended the first Dance Marathon to raise awareness and hope for the thousands of children around the world who were affected by HIV and AIDS. That original group of students raised a few thousand dollars to help support the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Fast forward ten years and while the event itself is largely unchanged, the numbers have grown exponentially. A few hundred dancers has grown into a few thousand, and a few thousand dollars raised has swelled to nearly half-a-million.
Foundation co-founders Susan DeLaurentis and Susie Zeegen attended the event and spoke to a room of exhausted dancers at the conclusion of the 26-hour marathon. Click past the jump to read their first person account of the Dance Marathon and what a decade of dancing has meant to the Foundation.
Photo: Susan DeLaurentis (far left), Susie Zeegen (second from left), and Foundation President and CEO Chip Lyons (3rd from left) pose with the Dance Marathon at UCLA Executive Committee following the event. (Credit: EGPAF)
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