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Newsroom
Leading Pediatric AIDS Foundation Launches AIDS Walk Africa in Swaziland
7/1/2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Robert Yule 202-448-8456 / RYule@pedaids.org
June 30, 2008
Foundation Launches AIDS Walk Africa in Swaziland
Walkers Gather From Around the World for Five-Day Trek to Raise Funds and Awareness for Mothers, Children, and Families Living With HIV/AIDS
Washington, D.C. – Against the natural beauty of Swaziland’s landscape, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation today launched its fifth annual AIDS Walk Africa. Set this year in the sub-Saharan African nation hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, the five-day, 35-mile trek officially began as walkers from around the globe arrived in the Kingdom of Swaziland to raise money and awareness to combat pediatric AIDS.
AIDS Walk Africa is sponsored each year by the Foundation to support its work in Africa providing services to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and treating children and families infected by the virus. Each volunteer comes to Swaziland having raised at least $15,000 for the event, which will be used to support the Foundation’s lifesaving programs.
This year’s walk highlights the needs of the estimated 26 percent of Swaziland’s population infected with HIV, which includes 5,000 of the world’s 2.5 million children living with HIV/AIDS. During the next four days, participants will visit clinics, hospitals, and communities, and will meet scientists, medical personnel, and children and families facing the many challenges posed by the virus.
Walkers were greeted at an opening ceremony by Foundation President and CEO Pamela W. Barnes, as well as Foundation Country Director for Swaziland, Mary Pat Kieffer. They received walking sticks handmade from Swazi wood to assist them on their trek, training about the customs and culture of Swaziland from a native Swazi guide, and learned how the pandemic is affecting mothers, children, and families in Swaziland.
The highlight of the day was a performance from a dance troop of six- to twelve-year-old girls called “Kip-Kip,” or “Popcorn.” The girls, dressed in the colors of the Swazi flag, performed a modern rendition of traditional Swazi dance. The evening was capped by a reception and dinner that included representatives from Swaziland’s Ministry of Health.
"Each and every step of the way, I want you to remember that we are making progress,” Barnes told the walkers at the reception. “We can have a generation free of HIV...we have the vision. Thank you for putting one foot in front of the other to ensure that we achieve this vision."
Much of Foundation’s clinical work in sub-Saharan Africa is focused on expanding PMTCT services, since infection during pregnancy, birth, or the first few months of life is the chief route of infection for children. In the developed world, mother-to-child transmission is now rare because of medicine that is widely available. In the developing world, however, reaching mothers and their children with those lifesaving treatments remains a challenge. Nearly 90 percent of the world’s HIV-positive children live in sub-Saharan Africa, where some 330,000 children died of AIDS-related illnesses last year.
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation has worked with the Ministry of Health in Swaziland since 2004 to ensure universal access to PMTCT services and to provide care and treatment services for HIV-positive pregnant women, children, and families. The Foundation is working in-country at 34 sites to eradicate pediatric HIV infection by supporting the Swaziland national PMTCT care and treatment programs at the national, regional, and site levels.
To follow the walkers’ journey in Swaziland through a virtual walk, or to help support AIDS Walk Africa 2008 and the Foundation’s vital programs, please visit www.pedaids.org/awa2008.
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About the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is a worldwide leader in the fight against pediatric AIDS. Its innovative research programs, collaborative training initiatives, advocacy efforts, and rapidly expanding international prevention and treatment programs are bringing dramatic changes to the lives of children worldwide.
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