Category Archives: U.S.

July 26, 2012 · 5:20 pm

David Binder – Documenting the AIDS Epidemic in the U.S. through Photography and Film

By Jane Coaston

On the NPR Shots blog, reporter Ben de la Cruz highlights the work of photographer David Binder. Binder has been photographing the AIDS epidemic for over 25 years.

His documentary about one woman’s struggle with AIDS and the effects on her family, Calling My Children, was screened Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol. 

Gail Farrow, photographed by David Binder

It tells the story of Gail Farrow, a mother of four living with HIV in the late 80s. Like Elizabeth Glaser, she contracted HIV through a blood transfusion, and forced America to confront the reality that AIDS was a problem that affects us all.

Read more about the documentary and watch a video about Binder here.

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Filed under Advocacy, Art, Elizabeth Glaser, Photography, U.S., Video

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July 24, 2012 · 2:51 pm

Hillary Clinton at IAC: Achieving an AIDS-Free Generation

By Jane Coaston

The biggest message from IAC thus far?

Hope for the end of AIDS.

That was the message of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s address at the International AIDS Conference yesterday. Speaking to an overflow crowd on Monday, Secretary Clinton spoke of the United States’ commitment to ending the AIDS crisis worldwide.

“I am here to set a goal for a generation that is free of AIDS,” Clinton said. She spoke of the past – about how, during the last IAC in the United States in 1990, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Dr. Eric Goosby ran a triage center for people living with HIV who became ill during the conference.

She talked about the thousands of people who have worked tirelessly to support and treat people living with HIV.

“Caring brought action,” she said, “and action has made an impact.”

Secretary Clinton also discussed how PEPFAR – the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief – is beginning to shift in order to better serve partner organizations and countries, and how the Global Fund is now a key partner in determining how and where to best deliver treatment for HIV/AIDS.

“Now all of these strategic shifts have required a lot of heavy lifting,” she said. “But it only matters in the end if it means we are saving more lives – and we are.”

Secretary Clinton focused much of her speech on the role of women in the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In her remarks, Clinton announced five new funding streams to battle AIDS, including $80 million for PMTCT efforts and $37 million to focus on high-risk populations, including female sex workers.

“Women want to protect themselves from HIV and they want access to adequate health care” she said. “And we need to answer their call.”

She added that family planning efforts were key to keeping women and children healthy.

“Every woman should be able to decide when and whether to have children. This is true whether she is HIV-positive or not. “

Secretary Clinton closed her remarks by talking about her first visit to the AIDS Quilt in 1996 – the last time the quilt could be displayed in its entirety.

“We are all here today because we want to bring about that moment when we stop adding names (to the Quilt), when we can come to a gathering like this one and not talk about the fight against AIDS, but instead commemorate the birth of a generation that is free of AIDS.”

To watch Secretary Clinton’s speech, click here. To read the remarks, click here.

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Filed under Advocacy, IAC 2012, PEPFAR, PMTCT, U.S.

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July 23, 2012 · 12:18 pm

Growing Up With HIV

By Jane Coaston

Children and adolescents living with HIV face unique challenges and questions, and they are often ignored in the discussions surrounding HIV/AIDS. At EGPAF, we’ve focused on the needs of children and young adults living with HIV for over twenty years. And we’re excited to see more attention paid to this key group.

Today on WAMU - American University Radio – reporter Kavitha Cardoza reported the first of a three-part story on youth living with HIV. On this morning’s broadcast, Cardoza brought listeners the stories of two young people living with HIV, Kendra and Luke (both names were changed to protect their privacy.)

Kendra was born HIV-positive, and learned of her status from a doctor when she was 13 years old.  Now 20, Kendra says that being HIV-positive has affected every facet of her life. ”I have a younger sibling and an older sibling who are perfectly normal,” she says. “I’m not saying I’m not normal, I’m saying I have to wake up and think of this. Every day.” She feels isolated from her peers, most of whom do not know about her HIV status. She says that she feels most comfortable at her hospital, where she can be free to discuss her status without worrying about the stigma.

Luke learned of his positive HIV status when he donated blood at the age of 16. He told Cardoza that he knew about HIV/AIDS, but he never thought that he could be infected. ”I was young,” Luke says. “That’s everyone’s thought. As kids, you think nothing’s going to happen. Kids are just so ignorant.” Luke has not told his family about his status, and has stopped planning for his future.  ”I’m not thinking of money, I’m not thinking of jobs, I’m just trying to make myself happy,” he says.

As we enter the International AIDS Conferences, the stories of young people like Kendra and Luke are vital to helping us understand the needs of youth living with HIV. Thank you to WAMU to bringing much-needed attention to the lives of young people living with HIV.

Today at IAC, we’ll be presenting a session on adolescent HIV: “Addressing the Psychosocial Support Needs of Transitioning Adolescents Living with HIV since Childhood: A Global Perspective” at 2:30 PM. There will be an additional session tomorrow at 11:00 AM in the Global Village.

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Filed under Advocacy, IAC 2012, Pediatric Treatment, U.S.

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July 22, 2012 · 12:23 pm

A Letter to All Advocates

By Jake Glaser

Advocates!

Jake Glaser here.

I’d like to share with you an amazing experience I had this past weekend. I was honored to join a group of outstanding individuals at a UNAIDS-hosted event called Uniting for an AIDS-Free Generation. Held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the event kicked off this year’s International AIDS Conference.

This year marks the first time the conference has been on U.S. soil in 22 years, which made this event even more moving for me. For the past two decades, a travel ban has been in place that disallowed anyone with HIV from entering the United States or to seek a green card. WOW!!!!!! That’s kind of shocking.

My thanks to Congresswoman Barbara Lee, President Obama, and countless others who fought for the HIV community and our human rights by working to overturn this ban. Their work, an amazing moral initiative, started in 2007 with Congresswoman Lee, and came to a head in 2010 when President Obama ended the travel ban for HIV-positive individuals entering the U.S.

Saturday night was filled with amazing words, music, dance, and emotion. A true expression of life and a reaffirmation of our inherent connection as human beings and our passion to love, live, and save lives. I was honored to take the stage as a member of the next generation of advocates, alongside Barbara Bush – President George W. Bush’s daughter – and Kweku Mandela – Nelson Mandela’s grandson.

It was the first time I had met both Barbara and Kweku, and what an honor it was. Barbara is the CEO and co-founder of the Global Health Corps, a nonprofit that places young leaders with organizations working on the front lines of global health. EGPAF was one of the first groups to partner with GHC, placing fellows with our programs in Malawi, Uganda, and Zambia. And Kweku is a film producer and director, carrying on his family’s legacy by shedding light on many important issues.

It was a pleasure to share my thoughts and hear theirs while uniting at such an amazing event. As the three of us stood together, I felt a deep feeling in my heart.

We are the next generation. This is our fight now. This is our inheritance from those who came before us.

It’s time to take what we have learned from those who came before us, and apply it with new vision for the future.

My fellow generation, this is our time to make our stamp on history.

HIV/AIDS has given us an opportunity to show our bravery, to embrace our fear, and witness our courage. It is our duty to become one, join hands, work together, and let our potential shine.

When I look at this epidemic and the 27 years I’ve been on this planet, I am brought back to an ideal I hold dear to my heart.

Whether it’s curing HIV, saving the environment, or supporting our local communities through social focus, these issues teach us to learn and grow. They motivate us to make change, and remind us that fear is not something to be afraid of.

Fear is a tool that gives us the opportunity to mature and become more conscious in our lives, as a community together. These moments are in front of us every day, and it is up to us to make the choice and turn our dreams into reality.

The end of AIDS can be in our lifetime if we make that choice.

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July 20, 2012 · 5:00 pm

A Focus on Children before AIDS 2012 Begins

By Robert Yule

In recent years, before International AIDS Society (IAS) conferences even begin, there are two events that place a special focus on the effects of HIV/AIDS on children:

The symposium, Children and HIV: Closing the Gap – Ending Vertical Transmission through Community Action, opened today at the Georgetown University Conference Center, with a keynote address from U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee. The symposium brings together service providers, donors, researchers, advocates, and policy leaders – all to share data and discuss best pratices for children and families.

EGPAF, a member of CCABA, is presenting throughout the symposium, including talks by staff from the     U.S., Switzerland, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. EGPAF topics on preventing mother-to-child transmission of  HIV (PMTCT) include:

  • Country-level efforts to scale up and integrate community support with medical services
  • Improving the continuum of care by promoting male involvement
  • Mobilizing community engagement through capacity building of media practitioners
  • Strengthening district capacity for rapid PMTCT scale up in Zimbabwe using the District Focal Person Approach

CCABA has produced a  great roadmap on pediatric and PMTCT-related sessions at AIDS 2012, and will be hosting their own session on Wed, July 25 on community involvement that EGPAF will be participating in.

EGPAF also has a strong presence at the 4th Annual International Workshop on HIV Pediatrics. The abstract-driven workshop shares the latest scientific data and discusses how to implement advances in PMTCT and pediatric treatment in the field.

Both the symposium and the workshop conclude on Sat, July 21, but will help drive the discussion of HIV and children and families throughout AIDS 2012.

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Filed under Community, Implementation, Pediatric Treatment, PMTCT, Research, Switzerland, Tanzania, U.S., Zimbabwe

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· 3:23 am

CDC’s Kevin De Cock on U.S. Leadership Fighting Pediatric AIDS

In advance of AIDS 2012, EGPAF hosted the following guest blog by Dr. Kevin M. De Cock – the U.S. CDC’s Director of the Center for Global Health - about U.S. leadership in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV globally:

Dr. Kevin De Cock, U.S. CDC

By Kevin M. De Cock MD, FRCP (UK), DTM&H

From July 22 to 27, Washington, D.C. will host the XIX International AIDS Conference, welcoming more than 20,000 attendees from around the world, representing hundreds of HIV/AIDS organizations and diverse backgrounds.  

 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) partner with many of these organizations combatting HIV/AIDS through PEPFAR, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. 
 
PEPFAR is the largest public health program ever mounted for an individual disease, and is celebrating almost a decade since it was established. Now more than 7 million people worldwide are receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV. The conference offers opportunity to assess progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS, review research advances and priorities, and recommit to meeting HIV/AIDS specific targets that we have collectively endorsed.
 
It was in the late 1980s that research in the U.S. and other countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo laid the foundation for our understanding of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Approximately one-quarter of children born to HIV-infected mothers acquired the infection themselves, with other research subsequently showing that prolonged breastfeeding contributed an additional 14% transmission risk.
 
Overall, up to 40% of children born to and breastfed by mothers living with HIV would become infected. And yet, alternatives to breastfeeding were not realistic options for most African mothers for reasons of poverty, stigma, and the fact that lack of breastfeeding exposed infants to higher risk of malnutrition and other lethal infectious diseases. 
 
The history of research on mother-to-child transmission of HIV and its prevention offers the clearest example of how domestic and global HIV/AIDS work have interacted and benefited from integration, and how research has led to specific program implementation. Communicating this relationship is an overarching contribution of International AIDS Conferences. 
 
In the early 1990s, the groundbreaking ACTG 076 trial showed that prophylactic zidovudine given to the mother during

Photo: EGPAF/James Pursey

pregnancy and labor and delivery, and postnatally to the infant, prevented HIV transmission by two-thirds. The trial initiated an avalanche of research on prevention of mother-to-child transmission in and tailored to low-income settings, the benefits of which we are reaping today. 

Opinion is growing that the World Health Organization’s “Option B+” – under which HIV-infected women start combination ART on detection of pregnancy and stay on it for life – will be an important tool to meet our ambitious goal of virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015.
 
In 2010, 35% (42% in sub-Saharan Africa) of pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries received HIV testing and counseling, and the estimated coverage of antiretroviral drugs for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV among pregnant women was 48%.  In 2011, 57% of pregnant women living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries received effective antiretroviral drugs to prevent transmission to the child.
 
Despite this progress, much remains to be done. Only 28% of exposed infants worldwide received an appropriate test for HIV infection in the first two months of life in 2010, with 22% coverage of ART for infected children. In 2011, treatment coverage for ART in infected children rose to 28%, yet treatment coverage among children is still substantially lower than the estimated 57% coverage among adults living with HIV.
 
The U.S. Administration’s Global Health Initiative has refocused attention on the health of women and children. Now we have unrivalled opportunity for synergy and integration – harmonizing programs for maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, and family planning for the greater good of women and children’s well-being. 
 

Photo: EGPAF/Jon Hrusa

Re-commitment to the worthy goals of an AIDS-free generation would be a good outcome of the XIX International AIDS Conference. The targets are to reduce the number of children newly infected with HIV by 90% by 2015, reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV to below 5% everywhere, and reduce maternal mortality related to HIV by 50%. 

 
Looking back to the dark days – when AIDS was a death sentence, life expectancy was declining in southern Africa, under-five mortality was rising because of AIDS, and hopelessness prevailed – the 2012 International AIDS Conference should be an occasion of pride, re-engagement, and forceful determination to achieve what was once thought impossible: an AIDS-free generation
 
To learn more about EGPAF’s collaboration with the CDC on global HIV treatment and PMTCT programs, click here.

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Filed under Countries, Democratic Republic of Congo, IAC 2012, Implementation, Pediatric Treatment, PEPFAR, PMTCT, Research, U.S.

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