Johnson & Johnson - Index

Johnson & Johnson - contribution - Index

Each day, more than 1,100 children
under 15 years of age are infected with
HIV, most as a result of mother-tochild
transmission of the virus. Of
these pediatric cases, approximately 15
to 20 percent occur during pregnancy,
50 percent during delivery, and more
than 30 percent during breastfeeding.
The vast majority of these infections
take place in Africa.*
One out of ten pregnant women
living in the capital cities of sub-Saharan
Africa is infected with HIV. Without
treatment, approximately one in three
infants of these infected mothers will
contract the disease during birth. There
is a global need for information about
HIV prevention, confidential counseling
and testing, access to antiretrovirals (ARVs) to prevent
transmission of the virus from mother to child, and education
on infant feeding options to decrease infection rates.
Since 2003, Johnson & Johnson has partnered with
organizations such as the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS
Foundation (the Foundation) to expand opportunities for
HIV-infected mothers to access effective interventions and
to prevent transmission to their children. The Foundation
provides antenatal counseling to pregnant women,
encourages HIV/AIDS testing, and refers women to
additional care if their results are positive. Additionally,
the Foundation partners with local health workers to
provide ARVs to women and their infants before and
directly after birth to help prevent infants from becoming
infected during delivery.
“HIV-infected children have a 50 percent chance of
dying before their second birthday,” says Trish Karlin,
vice president of programs for the Foundation.
“Preventing the infection and offering treatment to
families is extremely important because these children
really don’t have a chance of survival unless you deliver
the care that they need.”
Since the partnership began, more than 860,000
pregnant women in 10 countries have been reached
with counseling, and 760,000 women have received HIV
testing, with more than 39,000 women testing positive
and receiving ARV treatment (as of June 2007).
In the first six months of 2007 alone, more than
143,000 pregnant women were tested in Cameroon,
India, Malawi, Russia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. More
than 15,000 of these women tested positive; of those,
nearly 14,000 women and more than 12,000 infants
PREVENTING DISEASES & REDUCING STIGMA
“We’ve shown that
this can work in the
most remote and
under-resourced
settings, and we
believe we can reach
80 percent or more of
the families in need.”
TRISH KARLIN, VICE PRESIDENT OF
PROGRAMS FOR THE ELIZABETH
GLASER PEDIATRIC AIDS FOUNDATION
received ARV treatment to prevent
mother-to-child transmission.
“We’ve shown that this can work in
the most remote and under-resourced
settings, and we believe we can reach
80 percent or more of the families in
need in countries such as Cameroon,”
says Trish. “Our goal is to reach at least
80 percent of the health facilities in
each of the 80 health districts in five of
the ten provinces of Cameroon alone.”
In addition to the work with the
Foundation, Johnson & Johnson supports
more than 100 other programs
in over 40 countries that provide
prevention and care services for those
affected by HIV/AIDS. �
*According to UNICEF.
Above: The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation works with HIV-infected mothers to teach them how to prevent
transmission of the virus to their newborns.
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