Stories
The Heart of the Problem and the Solution: The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Sharing your stories (or the stories of your friends) with decision-makers can be truly powerful because it emotionally connects them to our issues. When a story about the problem is matched with an example of a solution, stories can move mountains. Here is a copy of a letter sent by one of our volunteers to her senator to illustrate the life-saving importance of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria:
Dear Senator Cantwell,
I am in Ghana visiting some pediatricians before I go to do some volunteer work in Liberia for two months. Today I attended a clinic for children who have HIV/AIDS or whose mothers have HIV/AIDS. The rate of HIV in pregnant women here is only about two to three percent, so lower than in other areas of Africa. But seeing the outcomes for these families was a great testament to the efficacy of prenatal treatment of the mother and immediate post-delivery treatment of the infant with retroviral medications to prevent maternal-to-infant transmission of HIV. All of the young infants less than one year of age had been treated to prevent transmission (and also bottle fed rather than breast fed, which is recommended when the family has access to safe formula preparation, as is the case here in the capital city). They were thriving, beautiful children that looked likely to be infection free.
The older children, who had not received treatment during the prenatal period and immediately after birth, were struggling with growth delays and infections such as TB, fungal skin infections, malaria, and pneumonia. Two of them were lovingly cared for by tired looking grandmothers because their mothers had died from HIV/AIDS. Their clinic and hospital care is free and the price of medications is markedly reduced through funding from the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria. For example, one father said that he purchased the AIDS medications for his 11-year-old son (who was a lively boy that loved to play soccer, but only the size of an eight-year-old in the US and had just recovered from active TB) for only about $8 every 3 months. Families that are very poor and can’t pay can still obtain the medications thanks to the Global Fund.
The sad part of the story is that there is an estimated $4–6 billion gap in funding for the Global Fund this year that is needed to continue and expand these very effective treatment programs for children here in Africa. So far, the developed countries that have been donors, such as the US, haven’t stepped up and allocated more money to continue and expand these programs. Please push for expanded funding of the Global Fund. It is money well spent by the global community to raise healthy children and have mothers be able to live with good health to care for their children. Without it, we will have worsening poverty for these very resource strapped countries which will breed more war and terrorism.
— Seattle RESULTS volunteer Elinor A. Graham, M.D., M.P.H.
