Dear Friend,
 

The first World AIDS day was held in 1988 to raise funds, increase awareness and fight prejudice against people living with the disease.  1st December has since become an annual reminder of the need to reflect on the continuing challenges, how far we have come and where we are going. The recently published UNAIDS global report show some signs of progress in fighting the pandemic. New infections among children have decreased by 24% from 2001 to 2009. This suggests that the virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is indeed possible.
 

Notwithstanding this progress, 2.3 million children are living with HIV.  However, less than 20% have access to life-saving anti-retroviral treatment.  Thankfully, an additional 80,000 children (an additional 4%), received ARVs for the first time over the past year.  

One to One Children's Fund co-founded and is the major funder of the PATA network of clinics which is playing a key role in ensuring that as many HIV+ children as possible  have access to comprehensive care, including ARVs. The PATA network now cares for more than 20% of all children receiving ARVs.
 

Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, summarises the report: "Investments in the AIDS response are paying off, but gains are fragile," he said. "The challenge now is how we can all work to accelerate progress."
 

We believe that the greatest progress in eradicating the AIDS pandemic can be made through empowering community health workers to complement and supplement the shortage of professional health workers.
 

At the 2006 PATA forum in Kenya, a programme was developed to address some of these issues. The idea was to shift some of the more basic healthcare tasks from highly trained health workers to those with real life experience - the patients. "Let's train our patients", was the recommendation of the forum. One to One Children's Fund decided to act on this.
 

The Expert Patient Programme, funded and co-managed by One to One Children's Fund, was also designed as a way of harnessing the passion and expertise of people living with HIV/AIDS, providing a job, a stipend, and a sense of autonomy in their work.

Since 2007, One to One Children's Fund has been able to expand the programme to 47 clinics, with a total of 202 expert patients being employed in 14 Sub-Saharan African countries. These clinics alone deliver ARVs to over 30 000 children. On average, an expert patient works for 25 hours per week fulfilling various roles such as a default tracer, clinical assistant, peer educator and counsellor.
 

The impact of this programme is profound. As well as providing extra human resources for the clinic, the Expert Patients are a critical link between the community and the clinic, central to community outreach, education and the follow up of defaulters. Expert Patients become role models in their communities, breaking down the stigma of AIDS which is still playing such a big part in the spread of the disease.
 

Thank you to our Expert Patients for their amazing contribution to the improved access to treatment and care for children living with HIV.

And a big thank you to One to One Children's Fund's wonderful supporters who have made it possible for more than 200 Expert Patients to help improve the lives of many thousands of children.

David Altschuler
One to One Children's Fund

One  to One Children's Fund implements other innovative HIV/AIDS projects in sub-Saharan Africa, all aiming to improve the provision of care to  children, adolescents and their families affected by HIV. For more  information please visit our website www.onetoonechildrensfund.org