Projects Supported in 2007The Stephen Lewis Foundation currently funds over 100 projects in more than 14 sub-Saharan African countries, focusing on the four areas of greatest need at the grassroots level:
Knowing where the money goes allows us to connect more directly to the work being done to ease the pain of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. It also helps focus our fundraising message – something which participants in the inaugural Tri-Adventure felt could help to convince friends, family and others in their community to make a pledge and/or become a corporate sponsor, volunteer or participant. In 2006, a portion of the $80,000 raised by the Tri-Adventure supported two children-related projects through the Stephen Lewis Foundation - the Girl Child Network in Zimbabewe, and the Youth Alive Club in Tanzania. For 2007, the Tri-Adventure will be highlighting the projects of the Stephen Lewis Foundation that benefit women. The Foundation's Community Relations Liaison, Janet Solberg, has identified two projects to benefit from our fundraising efforts:
Each month, more babies are born with HIV in one clinic in Africa than in one year in the United States, Canada and England combined. Treatment to prevent the infection of newborns has become as simple as a single dose of medicine for the mother and her newborn. While this clinical solution is now available in Africa, its impact and effectiveness for HIV-positive mothers is less successful without complementary social, emotional and psychological support - support that will allow them to overcome the social and emotional barriers that keep them from accessing medical care. Mothers2Mothers (m2m) helps save these children and their mothers by offering outreach, education and support for pregnant women and new mothers. m2m trains and employs HIV positive mothers to become 'Mentor Mothers'. These Mentors comprise a team of caregivers and educators for other HIV positive mothers and become an integral element of clinical prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) care. Located in antenatal clinics, maternity wards, post-delivery clinics and hospitals that offer medical treatment to women living with HIV, m2m works alongside established PMTCT treatment programs. The services foster a supportive environment - one which promotes empowerment and companionship, assists women in combating stigma within their families and communities, supports a mother's adherence to medical treatment, and reduces the likelihood that her children will become AIDS orphans. These include:
More women are getting infected with HIV more than men. In Kenya alone, close to 62% of those infected are women. In sub-Saharan Africa, for every 10 men living with HIV, there are 14 women infected with the virus and across all age groups, 59% of people living with HIV are women. The reality is that the sexual and economic subordination of women fuels the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is with this in mind that Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya (WOFAK) was founded in 1993, by a group of 10 women, most of whom were HIV positive. WOFAK is an AIDS support organization run by women for women infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. The organization exists to reduce HIV prevalence rates and mitigate the socio-economic, medical and devastating emotional impact of HIV/AIDS among women and families in general. For over 12 years, WOFAK has been active in implementing prevention, advocacy, care and support interventions. Their work:
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