mothers2mothersworks to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV – and sustain the long-term health of women and children – by addressing the needs of HIV-positive pregnant women and new mothers. Its simple and effective “Mentor Mother” model is a critical part of the global effort to eliminate new cases of pediatric AIDS by 2015 and keep mothers alive. To reach this goal, mothers2mothers is working to help developing countries integrate this innovative model into national health systems.
Who are the Mentor Mothers? Meet two courageous women, both living with HIV/AIDS themselves, working for mothers2mothers and mentoring expectant and new mothers on how to keep themselves healthy and their babies HIV-free. Matseliso, a mother of three from Lesotho, and Jackline, a mother of one from Kenya, recently participated in a special communications training supported by Johnson & Johnson, to empower them to become global advocates for HIV-positive women and the Mentor Mother model. Johnson & Johnson is a long-time partner of mothers2mothers. To learn more, visit m2m.org or follow @m2mtweets.
Last night, after the excitement of ONE and (RED)’s World AIDS Day event, I had the chance to join with ONE members and others at the Whitman-Walker Health Annual World AIDS Day Vigil in Washington, DC.
A new report out this morning from UNAIDS paints a mixed picture on the progress we’ve made in the fight against AIDS. We’ve added nearly 1.4 million HIV-positive people to treatment in the last year—an incredible feat that feels even more significant with the new understanding that treatment also serves as prevention in as many as 96 percent of cases. We’ve also learned that in 22 sub-Saharan countries, HIV incidence declined by more than 25 percent between 2001 and 2009 — including in some of the world’s largest epidemics. Some countries such as Botswana, Rwanda, and Namibia have achieved Universal Access to treatment (80 percent or greater coverage), and Zambia and Swaziland are close behind. There are real success stories on AIDS coming out of the African continent that we should be sharing widely.
Todd Summers and I are on ONE’s health policy team. I’m a few years into my global health career, and Todd has been working on HIV/AIDS for decades, but we both (like many other ONE staff) care passionately about the fight against AIDS. To mark the 30th anniversary of the disease this week, we reflected on our personal work on this issue.
Todd with Mayor Flynn in 1992
How did you first get involved in AIDS work?
T: In the mid-1980s, I was living in Boston and coming out as a gay man. It was like sticking your head out of the burrow, only to find out that you’d come up in a shooting range. I got involved in ACT UP Boston, helping them with a campaign to get affordable housing for people disabled by AIDS and also doing (illegal) needle exchange on the streets. I made a lot of friends, some of whom were losing the battle against AIDS, so for me the fight was about my community, my friends, and my life.
E: I get this question a lot, because growing up as a white, heterosexual female from suburban Pittsburgh, I really wasn’t connected to AIDS in any immediate way. But I’ve always been bothered by issues of inequity around the world, and by the time I arrived in DC for college, I wanted to try something different. I went to a Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC) meeting on a whim, and got hooked on AIDS activism pretty quickly.
Earlier today, ONE fellow and former speechwriter for George W. Bush, Michael Gerson chatted with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC to discuss President Bush’s op-ed, PEPFAR, and the fight against HIV/AIDS in general. As he notes, “the key to all prevention on AIDS is knowing your status and testing” and people are less inclined to get tested if they don’t know they have the drugs available for treatment.
To commemorate World AIDS Day, Todd Summers kicks off a 5-part series looking at innovative prevention efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Be sure to follow along throughout the day:
This World AIDS Day, we have much to celebrate—millions more on antiretroviral treatment, decreasing stigma, and increasing global partnership to fight this disease. The over 5 million people now getting AIDS drugs in the developing world are Living Proof that investments can translate into lives saved. Watch this video to get a personal version of hope.
A special nod to former President George W. Bush, who provided great leadership on AIDS during his tenure – he makes a forceful argument for continuing that work in an op ed published today. And a salute to our friends at (RED), who’ve helped raise awareness around the world – and a lot of money for the Global Fund. US support for AIDS, through both the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund, has been a great story of success.
Yet amidst all of this progress, there were 2.9 million new HIV infections in 2009, drastically outpacing the 1.2 million newly placed on treatment. If we hope to turn the tide of the AIDS epidemic, we need to do more to prevent the spread of HIV – especially by committing to No Child Born with HIV.
We encourage you to continue the fight, to find as many ways as you can to be a part of the end of AIDS. And read more about World AIDS Day 2010 at our Featured Series here.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
