Children’s Health
Chun-Mei Li of Johnson & Johnson’s Corporate Contributions shares her passion for the fight against female genital cutting.
Twelve years ago, I was a small-town Chinese girl who had just moved to Shanghai –- as bewildered and overwhelmed as any cliché would predict. While toying with the idea of a career in modeling, I stumbled upon a haunting memoir -– “Desert Flower” –- that shook me to my core. It is the powerful and unflinching story of Waris Dirie who started her life as an impoverished girl in the Somali desert and ultimately becomes a successful supermodel -– even a “Bond girl” no less.
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![Regina_Central African Republic, Daniel Cima[1]](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6131/6022284347_87c03558ac.jpg)
Red Cross volunteer Regina holds a vial of measles vaccine at a health clinic in the Central African Republic, April 2011. Daniel Cima/American Red Cross
Last week, the Measles Initiative issued a press release with the exciting news that in their first decade of work, they have assisted in vaccinating 1 billion children in more than 60 developing countries. The Measles Initiative was launched in 2001 by the American Red Cross, the United Nations Foundation, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF and the World Health Organization to provide technical and monetary support of vaccination campaigns by governments and communities in the developing world.
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At the recent UN High Level Meeting on AIDS, world leaders made a critical step in the right direction with the launch of a global plan to eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015 and to keep their mothers alive. Last fall, ONE members tirelessly advocated for the Global Fund during our “No Child Born with HIV” campaign, and we’re pleased that this plan will help us work towards turning that goal into reality.
Tremendous gains have been made in recent years in reducing HIV infections among children and scaling up the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, yet much work remains. In 2009, an estimated 370,000 new infections occurred among children, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. The global strategy identifies two top goals: to reduce the number of new infections among children by 90 percent and reduce the number of AIDS-related maternal deaths by 50 percent. Under the plan, resources will be channeled to 22 priority countries, where nearly all HIV-positive pregnant women live.
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Today is the second day of my week-long Live Below the Line challenge to eat and drink for less than $1.50 a day. But I must admit to you, dear reader, that I cracked late last night. I had a piece of chocolate.
I couldn’t help it. Eating like this is way harder than I thought. When I got home from work last night, I was cranky, dizzy and deflated that my dinner would be a bowl of instant ramen, which made me feel ungracious and jaded. In retrospect, it wasn’t so bad, and I probably didn’t need the sugar fix. Take a look at some of the photos that my friend Becky took of our meals (we have the same food items, so we’re eating similar things):
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Driving down a bumpy and barely navigable road in Malawi, we arrived at the Mawango School, greeted by tons of school children with beaming smiles.
“Look at those round cheeks, beautiful smiles,” remarked Florence from the Ministry of Education who joined ONE’s site visit. “The children are happy because they have taken their porridge.” At this school feeding program, run by the World Food Programme, the 777 students at Mawango are guaranteed a bowl of porridge made from a corn-soya blend, sweetened with sugar and fortified with essential nutrients.
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Kim Koporc from Children Without Worms (CWW) writes about an illness that affects children all over the world, including Africa: intestinal worms.
When I visited Cambodia with Johnson & Johnson for a deworming day at Poek Ho (waterfall) school in Kandal Province, I was struck by the sheer number of students who lined up to receive mebendazole. These children showed up to receive treatment for intestinal parasites with mebendazole donated by Johnson & Johnson. They also received a meal, which for some was likely the only meal they received that day.
These children were at particular risk of infection with intestinal worms because worms thrive in the warm climate. The lack of access to sanitation facilities in Cambodia doesn’t help much, either. In America, it is hard for us to imagine that more than 1.2 billion people living in developing countries are infected with intestinal worms. Worms are most prevalent in children between the ages of 6 to 14 and can lead to malnutrition, robbing them of the energy they need to learn and grow.
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Vida, just a few weeks ago
On Wednesday, ONE lost a friend and an inspiration.
Many of us on the ONE staff were fortunate to know Vida, a Ghanaian girl living just a short drive from Accra, in Tema.
When I saw Vida three weeks ago, she and her father showed me her straight-A report card from school. She was a smart, talented and spirited person. You didn’t need a report card to know that, but it was a physical affirmation of her delight in learning and her hope for the future. Her dream was to someday be a bank manager at the Bank of Ghana, and of course, to buy her very own car.
We were concerned for her, though, because she wasn’t looking so good. It seemed she was missing some of her usual spunk.
Vida was born with HIV. She had been taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) for several years. Since her mother died of HIV, Vida was raised by her father, who is also HIV-positive. She couldn’t start school until she was 9 years old because of complications from AIDS. But once she started ART, she got into school and quickly found she loved it -– especially science –- and excelled in most all of her classes.
During the past few years, Vida has been a friend to and spokesperson for ONE and our sister organization, (RED).
The clinic Vida went to for medical care, including ART, is at the Tema General Hospital. This clinic is run by Dr. Patricia, who is also a friend of ONE and many of our staff. Last week, Vida was admitted to the Tema General Hospital, and placed on antibiotics for a dental abscess but –- having just recently been through a battle with pneumonia –- she was simply unable to beat another strong infection. Yesterday, Dr. Patricia let us know that Vida died on Wednesday.
With your help, ONE has long been advocating for the resources to support programs like the Global Fund and PEPFAR that provide drugs to prevent to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. We often talk about the 1,000 children per day that are still born with HIV, but those numbers are sterile and can’t reflect the vibrant reality of Vida. We will all miss her.
But, just as Vida was a voice for the efforts of ONE and (RED), it is our pledge to be Vida’s ongoing voice in this absolutely winnable battle against mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
