How to save a life
How you can save children from HIV infection at birth (and you don't have to get up off of your couch or spend a cent to do it.)
Thu, Sep 02 2010 at 2:00 PM EST
Photo: magnus franklin/Flickr Every minute of every day a child is born with HIV.
Can you believe that statistic? Here's another troubling one:
In 2008, around 430,000 children became infected with HIV, mainly through mother-to-child transmission. About 90 percent of these cases occurred in Africa.
When I was pregnant with my daughters, I worried about all kinds of things — would childbirth go smoothly? Would my children be healthy? Would I be able to keep them safe? But one thing I did not have to worry about was whether or not my children would be doomed to a life sentence of HIV infection simply by being born.
I don't have HIV. But even if I did, I live in a country in which preventative prenatal care means that the chances of an HIV-infected pregnant mom transmitting the disease to her baby are slim. An HIV-positive woman can transmit the virus to her baby during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and through breastfeeding. If she takes no preventive drugs and breastfeeds, then the chance of her baby becoming infected is around 20-45 percent. With preventative care, that risk drops to less than 2 percent.
So the Born HIV Free campaign is asking for help getting the word out about this issue and the ease with which it could be addressed. You don't have to send money, sell cookies, or run a marathon to help. All they need is your name on their petition so that they can show the folks with the purse strings that this cause matters to people. Their goal is to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV entirely by 2015.
Here's more about their campaign:
So check out their site. Sign their petition. And then, if you can, spread the word on Twitter, Facebook, your blog, your e-mail list, your vlog, or at your next play date.
Let's help save lives.
See also:
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