Climb For A Cause

Climbing Kilimanjaro for AIDS - December 2004 (Anoo)

This year we are going to Africa. The people of Africa need all the help they can get. When we took stalk of the state of the AIDS epidemic in the region; we realized that the situation is far worse than it was 2 years ago. AIDS continues to remain the leading issue facing the people of Africa; especially Southern Africa. What is worse is that the condition has deteriorated considerably for children and women. Some facts that indicate this are:

• There are 40 million people living with AIDS in the world. Of these 2.5 million are children. The epidemic has killed more than 3 million people in 2003, 500,000 of them were children. This amounts to approximately 1,400 children's deaths from AIDS per day.
• More than 95 percent of people with HIV live in the developing world. Southern Africa alone is home to about 30% of people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, yet this region has less than 2% of the world’s population.
• Around half (58%) of all people living with HIV in the world are female. This rises to 64% of young women and girls in developing countries.
• More than 1 in 5 pregnant women are HIV-infected in Southern Africa. In some parts of Africa, more than 60% of women aged 15-49 do not know that HIV can be transmitted from a mother to her child.
• Approximately 2,000 children worldwide are infected with HIV each day. Over 90% of these children were infected through mother-to-child transmission.
• In industrialized nations, research and effective intervention have drastically reduced mother-to-child transmission of HIV to less than two percent. If we act now, thousands of children's lives in the developing world can be saved by using proven low-cost interventions.

The Organizations

We are raising money for the Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation and Doctors Without Borders.

Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation

Several worldwide organizations are working relentlessly to fight AIDS. The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is one such organization. Two of the participants from this year's group raised money for them during the AIDSTrek in 2002. We have been very please with their work and use of the money. They are rated A by the American Institute of Philanthropy, a charity watchdog organization. In the simplest terms, this means that over 75% of the money donated to Elizabeth Glaser reaches the people affected by the cause.

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation helps children and families worldwide by eradicating pediatric AIDS, providing care and treatment to people with HIV/AIDS, and accelerating the discovery of new treatments for other serious and life-threatening pediatric illnesses. It does this by providing awards to outstanding scientists to conduct innovative research into pediatric HIV Vaccine. In an environment where scientific information is often viewed as proprietary, the Foundation has been extremely successful in encouraging scientists to work collaboratively. Outcomes are then put into action through critical programs. The Foundation also seeks to keep the public informed about developments in HIV/AIDS research to aid in grass-roots advocacy.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

MSF provides emergency aid to victims of armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters, others who lack health care due to social or geographical isolation. As well as providing emergency medical care, MSF tries to address the problem at it's source, by speaking out for populations struggling to make their voices heard. The American Institute of Philanthropy has recently been awarded an "A" rating to MSF.

• In Uganda children can have weight/height ratio below 70% of normal. If treatment is not done properly, malnutrition can lead to death. A child must eat 8 meals every 24 hours to recover from the critical phase of the disease. MSF has therapeutic feeding centers (TFC) all over the African continent. MSF undertakes a blanket feeding program in Darfur. There are 8,000 beneficiaries per day.
• MSF Mozambique has a Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. Administering 1 dose of Nevirapine to the mother at least 4 hours before delivery, and giving the baby a small dose within 72 hours of being born, reduces transmission by as much as 50%. Providing formula and educating/encouraging to move to artificial milk to prevent transmission.

These are just some examples of the work being done by MSF in southern Africa. For more details, about the work being done by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the African sub-continent and throughout the world visit http://www.msf.org/ or http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/index.shtml.

Our Challenge

We have raised over $30,000 for these two organizations together. We will continue to raise funds throughout the trip and on our return as we tell our stories. If you would like to make a donation, please send email to anoo_padte@msn.com

posted by Climb For A Cause @ 7:21 PM