Return to Table of Contents
ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL LETTER CAMPAIGN
In early November, 2006, CAOF sent its annual fund raising letters to donors of record. Over 400 letters were sent. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we have received $18,450 as of December 31, 2006. We will ensure this money will be put to good use in helping children affected by AIDS in central China.
Return to Table of Contents
China
AIDS Orphan Support:
Berkeley,
California
By Leah Mazel-Gee
I will attempt to say a bit about the event at
Berkeley
High School
in the Fall. Ariel Mazel-Gee, a Junior at
Berkeley
High School in
Northern
California, has spearheaded a club for the students to help
publicize and support the wonderful efforts of the China AIDS Orphan
Fund. The club is called CHAOS (China AIDS Orphan Support). In
order to introduce the school to CAOF there was an Art Opening in mid-November
to share the wonderful exhibit of the Children's art that was gathered from the
beneficiaries of the CAOF efforts in
Henan
Province in
China
.
The attendance at the art opening was quite impressive, and many students,
faculty, and staff came to view the exhibit and learn more about the
CAOF. People were extremely touched by the artwork and writings of the
children represented in the exhibit. The CHAOS Club is meeting bi-monthly
to find more ways to share the message of CAOF. They are working on
finding other venues to take the Children's Art Exhibit to help publicize the
plight of this little-known struggle in
China
.
Return to Table of Contents
A New Project in
Yunnan
Province!
By Peg Helminski
The board of the China AIDS Orphan Fund has recently agreed to
send an emergency grant of $6,500 to Holt International Children's
Services. Holt is a highly esteemed
adoption and child welfare organization based in
Eugene,
Oregon.
Their staff has become aware of an estimated 500 AIDS orphans living in one sector of Yunnan
Province--a section too poor to sustain a child social welfare institute.
The AIDS situation in
Yunnan
began because of blood selling programs similar to
Henan
Province
but escalated even more rapidly because intravenous drugs were used to
alleviate pain, resulting in additional drug addiction problems and disease
transmission through the use of contaminated needles. Jian Chen of Holt speculates that there
is not a family in this area untouched by the AIDS crisis. She describes the situation as quite dire.
143 of these AIDS orphans in one village have no one to look after them. They
have no surviving relative or neighbor who will offer them any help. They have
taken up residence in the village school where teachers have been looking after
them. Out of their own salaries, the teachers have been providing school
supplies. The kids own nothing but
the one set of clothes on their backs.
The provincial
government sends a small food stipend for the children, but it is not enough to
assure proper nutrition for growing children. Their diet consists of a small
amount of rice and noodles with occasional vegetables but never any source of
protein. Ms. Chen reports
that all the children are remarkably small and thin for their ages.
Our grant will provide three months of school supplies and
increased
Nutrition for the 143 children living at the school as well as
add a bit of
protein to the noon meal for all the students attending the
school. Although not always
welcomed into their homes because of fear and ignorance about the transmission
of HIV, most of these village children are still, in some way, cared for by
extended family members or neighbors. It is believed that all the children in this village have suffered the
loss of at least one parent to HIV/AIDS.
Holt is working to set up a one-to-one child sponsorship program
to include all of these children, beginning with those living in the school. It is anticipated that the program will
be up and fully operational by May. Holt and the Altrusa Foundation have already begun to solicit sponsors
for these kids. And, the members of a
US
, Buddhist temple have donated
enough money to assure that each of the 143 children at the school receives one
complete winter outfit.
The children have all been sent to live with village families
for the
Chinese New Year Holidays and are expected back at school on
March first. Through the generosity of our donors and the members of the Buddhist
temple, and the ongoing efforts of Holt International, a world of difference
has happened in the lives of these kids. They will return to a much more hope-filled new year!
It is with a deep sense of gratitude that we at CAOF wish to
thank all
Of you for your ongoing donations
which have allowed us to respond quickly and fill the gap in this crisis.
Xin Nian Hao! Happy
Chinese New Year, Everyone!
Return to Table of Contents
U.N. Says Global AIDS Effort For Children
Falls Far Short By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN January 17, 2007 www.nytimes.com
Some
countries are making progress in treating children with AIDS and preventing
others from becoming infected, but the overall global response is ''tragically
insufficient,'' Unicef said yesterday.
''Children
affected by AIDS are now more visible and are taken more seriously in global,
regional and national forums where they had received little consideration
before,'' the United Nations agency said in a report. Better testing to find
children with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, and simpler formulations of
the antiretroviral drugs that combat the infection have increased the number of
children under treatment, Unicef said. Additional factors were lower prices for
the drugs and improved skills among health workers.
But the
overall statistics for children are grim, Unicef found. It took stock of
changes in 2005 and 2006, when the agency began a program to put what it called
the ''missing face'' of children at the center of the world effort to halt and
reverse the spread of H.I.V. by 2015.
Central
to that effort is testing pregnant women, providing short-term drug therapy to
prevent them from transmitting the virus to their newborns, testing children
and treating those infected.
About
two years ago, Unicef was concerned that a number of factors stopped children
from getting treatment. One was the ability to detect infected children. Two
others were whether the available drugs were safe for children and affordable
for poor countries.
The
progress since then, though small, has exceeded Unicef's expectations, Peter
McDermott, who runs Unicef's AIDS program, told reporters by telephone.
''Children do very well on treatment,'' he said.
Still,
about 10 percent of pregnant women in capital cities in sub-Saharan
Africa are infected with H.I.V. But the vast majority of
pregnant African women do not have access to drugs that would prevent
transmitting the virus to their infants. So about one-third of their children
will become infected at or shortly after birth, Unicef said.
Progress
in providing drugs to infected pregnant women to prevent transmission to their
infants was small. The 9 percent of such women in low- and middle-income
countries worldwide who received antiretroviral drugs in 2005 rose from 3
percent in 2003.
The
data available for 2005 shows that only seven countries cited in the report
provided drugs to at least 40 percent of infected pregnant women to prevent
H.I.V. among newborns: Argentina (87 percent), Brazil (48 percent), Botswana
(54 percent), Jamaica (86 percent), Russia (84 percent), Thailand (46 percent)
and Ukraine (90 percent).
Of the
estimated 2.3 million children under 15 who had H.I.V. in 2005, 780,000 needed
antiretroviral therapy, Unicef said, and only 10 percent of them received it.
Untreated,
about one-third of infected infants die in their first year, and half die by
their second birthday. That translated into 380,000 children dying from AIDS
last year, Unicef said.
Only
seven countries identified in the report provided antiretroviral therapy to at
least 20 percent of children needing it. They were
Botswana
(84 percent),
Cape Verde
(47
percent), the
Dominican Republic
(23 percent),
Jamaica
(47
percent),
Namibia
(52
percent),
Rwanda
(20
percent) and
Thailand
(95 percent).
Lack of
prevention and treatment has left an estimated 15.2 million children as
orphans. The number is expected to grow to 20 million by 2010.
The
actual problem is worse, the report said, because ''many more children live
with parents who are chronically ill, live in households that have taken in
orphans due to AIDS or have lost teachers and other adult members of the
community to AIDS.''
In
issuing the report, Unicef said it was trying to establish a baseline for
future monitoring. Because data from 2005 was the latest available, the agency
said it could not provide statistical comparisons for changes in the year since
it began its effort. Even so, it said it could make some determinations about
progress, of the lack thereof, based on the work it has been doing in the
field.
An
additional problem is that national data on pediatric care and treatment is
limited in most countries.
Return to Table of Contents
CAOF Volunteer
Positions Open
The China AIDS Orphan Fund
is seeking to fill the following volunteer vacancies:
Peony
Festival 2007 Event Volunteers: We
are in the process of planning the Third Annual Peony Festival. The Peony
Festival is an important fundraiser and a great opportunity for those who would
like to volunteer, but have limited time. Please e-mail Jane Rydholm, jane_rydholm@yahoo.com, if you are interested.
CAOF Board of
Directors Members:
We are currently searching
for 2 new Board Members who have Graphic Design or Marketing expertise. If you
are able to commit to monthly Minneapolis-based board meetings and work on
special projects as assigned, Please email Jane Rydholm, jane_rydholm@yahoo.com for more information.
One Time
Event and Consulting Volunteers:
We would like to build a list of
professionals with expertise in a wide variety of disciplines that can benefit
CAOF as needs arise. If you share our passion for the China¡¯s AIDS Orphans and
feel you have information or experience that might be of value to CAOF, please contact our president, Tom Ting 952-974-8256 or E-mail him at Thomas.ting@pettersgroup.com . This
is another great opportunity for those who would like to volunteer, but have
limited time.
Return to Table of Contents
SUBSCRIBING AND UNSUBSCRIBING
If you have been subscribed in error and do not wish to
receive future editions of the CAOF Quarterly, please E-mail http://health.groups.yahoo.com/unsubscribe/chinaaidsorphanfund and write Unsubscribe in the subject line.
If someone passed this newsletter on to you and you would
like to become a regular subscriber, please E-mail http://healthgroups.yahoo.com/subscribe/chinaaidsorphanfund and write Subscribe in the subject line.
If you know someone who used to subscribe but whose address
was inadvertently deleted, or who might like to receive our E-newsletter and
periodic updates simply have them send an E-mail to:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/chinaaidsorphanfund and write Subscribe in the subject line.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the China
AIDS Orphan Fund or with issues presented in this newsletter, please feel free
to contact Amanda Dennison, CAOF Public Health Liaison, denn0051@umn.edu.
China AIDS
Orphan Fund, Inc.
7800 Metro Parkway, Suite 300
Bloomington,
MN
55425.
http://www.chinaaidsorphanfund.org/
