Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Wall Street Journal - December 7, 2001
David Bank, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
The foundations, which are expected to announce the initiative Friday, intend to eventually raise $100 million for the five-year program. Organizers say fund raising has been set back by the events of Sept. 11 and losses in the stock portfolios of many foundations. Indeed, the commitment of funds has declined by about $10 million since the originally scheduled announcement in September.
The program is intended to reduce the number of infected babies by providing their mothers with testing, drugs and other health care. Infection of newborns can be prevented with a low-cost regimen of drugs, but the lack of treatment programs for mothers has discouraged many expectant mothers from seeking care, organizers said.
Of the 26 million pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa this year, experts estimate more than 2.5 million are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Without treatment, a half-million babies could be expected to become infected.
The funds won't be part of the new $1.5 billion fund spearheaded by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, but will work in cooperation with that effort, said Gordon Conway, president of the Rockefeller Foundation.
The program will be administered by the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, New York, which will screen grants from organizations running clinics in Asia and Latin America, as well as Africa. A portion of the money will be given to UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund.
Other organizations participating in the effort include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the United Nations Foundation, along with the Gates, Hewlett, MacArthur and Packard foundations.
Write to David Bank at david.bank@wsj.com1
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