FACTS ABOUT: How EGPAF Programs Function

Overview

More than 30 years ago, Elizabeth Glaser inspired a movement that led to near elimination of pediatric AIDS in the United States and Europe. Through HIV programs, advocacy, and research, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) continues to work toward ending pediatric AIDS in high-prevalence, resource-limited countries. EGPAF works hand-in-hand with governments, local organizations, and health facilities in supported settings to ensure that all women, children, and families have access to comprehensive health services.

Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT)

Globally, about 500 children are infected with HIV every day. HIV-positive children are most often infected through mother-to-child transmission, whereby an HIV-positive mother transmits the infection in pregnancy, through delivery, or breastfeeding. A pregnant woman actively taking ART through breastfeeding cessation, can reduce the risk or HIV infection to her child to less than 5%. However, in 2019, only 85% of pregnant women living with HIV had access to treatment.

EGPAF is a pioneer in expanding PMTCT programs worldwide. To this end, we help implement national PMTCT policies, train and mentor program managers and health facility staff to ensure all women have access to HIV counseling, testing, and linkage to lifelong treatment, if HIV-positive. We create family-friendly clinic settings which integrate these services with other health services such as TB identification and treatment, cancer screening and treatment, family planning, voluntary medical male circumcision, child wellness, and psychosocial support services.

HIV Care and Treatment to Children, Adolescents, Men and Women

Globally, nearly 38 million people are living with HIV, with an estimated 1.7 million people becoming newly infected each year. Although there is no cure for HIV or AIDS, HIV-positive people who remain on ART have nearly the same life expectancy as those without the virus. However, just 82% of those who knew their HIV status were active on treatment in 2019, and only half (53%) of the 1.8 million children living with HIV globally had access to treatment.

To reduce HIV-related morbidity and mortality in young children, we have expanded access to HIV identification and treatment through implementation of early infant point-of-care diagnostic technology in nine supported countries, testing nearly 130,000 infants over these last three years; giving nearly all found to be HIV-positive faster access to treatment. We have linked children in our care to over 500 psychosocial support groups, which strive to prevent affects of HIV-related stigma and strengthen treatment management. We have implemented early child development programs to ensure children are thriving.

Adolescents and young adults are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection, with adolescent girls and young women carrying the heaviest burden of that vulnerability. Every week, over 6,000 adolescent girls are newly infected with HIV around the world. In response, EGPAF has developed a network of youth advisors to inform delivery of programs that work for their peers. We are expanding access to age-appropriate differentiated HIV clinic and reproductive health services.

EGPAF works across 17 countries to increase access to lifelong HIV care and treatment and to integrate HIV services with primary health care services such as antenatal care, general outpatient services, and opportunistic infection screening and treatment. We train and mentor health workers to improve HIV care and treatment services, and we empower patients through peer and family support groups to help them remain on treatment for life. Currently, EGPAF is working with host countries to scale-up use of differentiated models of care; tailoring comprehensive and holistic health care to individual patient needs, including adolescents, men, women and children.

Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH)

Recognizing that responding to the HIV epidemic will only be successful if approaching elimination holistically, EGPAF supports a variety of women’s health initiatives, including activities to increase access to family planning; testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections; and testing, care, and treatment of reproductive cancers.

EGPAF programs support prenatal care among women and adolescents, which ensure the safety and health of the pregnancy and also encourage all to deliver their children in facilities where health staff can treat obstetric emergencies. We provide technical assistance to labor and delivery wards to offer comprehensive and high-quality care. EGPAF also supports postnatal care for both mothers and newborns to help women care for their children: postnatal services include support for safe infant feeding practices in and out of the context of HIV, HIV testing and treatment (offered in many of our settings through point-of-care diagnostic technology, offering same-day results), growth monitoring, vaccinations, and latent and active TB identification and treatment.

Health Systems Strengthening

Increased access to comprehensive HIV services and ending pediatric HIV cannot be achieved and sustained without strong national health systems. EGPAF works hand-in-hand with governments and local organizations to build capacity and implement health services. We provide ministries of health with technical assistance and recommendations to inform national guidelines and policies. We actively evaluate best practices by collecting and using data to improve our programs, and bring these programs to scale through our support to ministries. We work with local organizations to build financial, operational, and technical capacity and to promote local ownership. EGPAF also helps national health programs develop human resource systems for managing health workers, and strengthen medical supply chains to reduce stock-outs of HIV prevention, testing, and treatment supplies.