Kids bring creativity, awareness to World Environment Day
Ganeshpuri, India— On June 5, the people of Ganeshpuri celebrated World Environment Day with activities organized by representatives from PRASAD Chikitsa, and from local schools and youth groups. At the Primary School of Ganeshpuri, enthusiastic children created drawings and Rangoli to express how trees benefit both people and the environment. Read more…
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Donor, Margareta Blix, is celebrating the life of her beloved late sister, Gudrun, with a grant of up to $20,000 that will provide a dollar-to-dollar match for new donations to PRASAD Children's Dental Health Program (PRASAD CDHP) received through October 31, 2010. Read more...
“Paddlers for Humanity” Open Ocean Paddle to benefit PRASAD Children’s Dental Health Program
Sunday, September 5th
(rain date September 6th)
Save the Date & Register!
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PRASAD HIV/AIDS Program Awarded Clinton Foundation Grant
The PRASAD Project is pleased to announce that our HIV/AIDS program in India has been awarded a one-year grant from the William J. Clinton Foundation, to expand our treatment program for HIV-positive children in the Tansa Valley. The grant, which is distributed through Project Concern International (PCI), coordinating agency for the Foundation program in India, will provide funds to cover treatment and related support for children diagnosed with HIV. The funding is adjusted monthly, according to the number of HIV-positive children on the caseload (currently, 100), and the grant can be renewed annually, based on program performance review.
In addition to providing medicines for the children, the grant will help fund the following:
- Psycho-social support (home visits, counseling, recreation, etc)
- Nutritional support (food and supplements as needed)
- Travel support (outings, as well as transportation to the ART center for children on anti-retro-viral medicines)
- Incentives (help with school supplies etc)
- Community mobilization (spreading awareness and sensitizing people about the needs of HIV-positive children, mobilizing children for voluntary counseling and testing, etc)
The Clinton Foundation announced their grant program late last year, as part of the launch of the Indian government’s national program to treat HIV-positive children. The goal of the program is to increase the number of HIV-positive children in India receiving proper medical follow up and antiretroviral (ART) medication.
“Though the world has made progress in expanding HIV/AIDS treatment to adults, children have been left behind,” said President Clinton when announcing the new grant program.” Only one in 10 children who need treatment is getting it,”
In addition to pediatric treatment, the Foundation is interested in prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV and in programs that combine prevention of pediatric HIV infection with treatment and care for both parents and children - something PRASAD’s program has done from the start.
“Our Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) project is the only one of its kind in the whole region,” says Marie Elrington, program manager of the RCH (Reproductive Child Health) and HIV/AIDS programs. “We do not just follow the limited government guideline of one dose antiretroviral therapy at delivery time. Instead, we start the pregnant woman on one, two or three-drug daily therapy after the first trimester. The woman receives regular counseling on ART(antiretroviral therapy) adherence and preparation for delivery and care of the baby… PRASAD also arranges for PCR/DNA blood testing to determine the HIV status of the baby before it is 18 months old. If the baby is HIV positive, daily prophylactic medication can be given to prevent the onset of severe chest infections. Of the 27 babies born to the HIV positive women who have received antiretroviral therapy from PRASAD Chikitsa during pregnancy, only two babies so far have been born HIV positive … where the mother has followed up regularly and has adhered to the antiretroviral regimen, all the babies have been born free of the HIV disease.”
To learn more about PRASAD Chikitsa’s HIV/AIDS Program, click here.
To learn more about the William J. Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative in India and elsewhere, click here.