(RED) Visits Lesotho

Dec 10th, 2008 2:21 PM UTC
By Chris Scott

Our friends at (RED)—ONE’s sister organization—posted an account of their recent trip to Lesotho, an African country that has benefitted greatly from (RED)’s work with the Global Fund. This is the first in a series of pieces they’ll be posting documenting their trip, you can check out the (RED) Blog in the coming days for more.

Excerpts below, full piece here

While the country is small, it has the 3rd highest AIDS prevalence in the world – 23.2% of the population are HIV positive.

The efforts to stem the AIDS emergency in this area face many challenges, such as geography, poverty, cultural and religious stigmas.

The good news is, Lesotho has already received $7.85MM of (RED) money and a total of $24.2 million from this Global Fund (RED) grant to date. They have been putting that money to good use. The programs support a variety of efforts, from medicine distribution to awareness building to income generating activities. All programs incorporate education which is the first step to helping eliminate AIDS in Africa.

Thanks to robust awareness programs, 448,000 people have come in for HIV testing and counseling, and 31,000 HIV+ people have begun ARV treatment. One of the areas that shows the most promise in Lesotho is the prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child. More than 95% of pregnant women in Lesotho are now being tested for their HIV status. Of those who tested positive and are receiving PMTCT, the majority of their babies are born HIV negative and remain healthy.

-Chris Scott

TAGS: ONE