Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation has been a Jewelers for Children Legacy Charity since 1999. Since that time, JFC has provided more than $7.6 million in grants. This support has funded a variety of activities, including prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs in sub-Saharan Africa and India, more than 20 fellowship opportunities for the training of young doctors pursuing careers as pediatric clinical research scientists, an Elizabeth Glaser Scientist Award, and four International Leadership Awards, three based in sub-Saharan Africa and one in India.

Elizabeth Glaser acquired HIV through a blood transfusion and unknowingly passed the virus on to her daughter, Ariel, and her son, Jake. Following Ariel's death in 1988, Elizabeth joined with two close friends with one goal: to bring hope to children with AIDS. The Foundation that now bears Elizabeth Glaser's name has become a global leader in the effort to eliminate pediatric AIDS, working in 17 countries and at more than 5,000 healthcare sites around the world to prevent the transmission of HIV to children and help those already infected with the virus. The Foundation's global mission is to implement prevention, care, and treatment programs; further advance innovative research; and give those affected by HIV and AIDS a voice to bring dramatic change to the lives of millions of children, women, and families worldwide.

"As one of the largest donors to have partnered with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, I want to say a warm thank you for being in the fight with us for over a decade and really working towards creating a generation free of HIV."

--- Cristina Pena, Foundation Ambassador

Visit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Website

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation International Leadership Awards

Jewelers for Children has contributed to the Foundation's International Leadership Award Program, which selects recipients through a competitive peer review process. Awardees are internationally based scientists, researchers and public health specialists who have the potential to develop pediatric HIV/AIDS programs, but lack the in-country resources to implement such vital initiatives.

The 2007 and 2009 ILA awards, which JFC's contribution helped make possible, are supporting the work of prominent scientists, researchers, and program leaders in Africa and India over the next three years. Those recipients are:

Agnes Moses, M.D. (2009 ILA recipient)
University of North Carolina, Lilongwe, Malawi
"Improving effectiveness of the PMTCT program in Lilongwe District, and improved maternal and infant HIV diagnosis, care, treatment and support"

Assan Jaye, D.V.M., Ph.D. (2007 ILA recipient)
Medical Research Council Laboratories, The Gambia, West Africa
"Establishment of a Pediatric HIV Clinical and Research Unit for the Study of Pathogenesis and Treatment of Pediatric HIV-1 and HIV-2 Infection in The Gambia"

Anneke C. Hesseling, M.D., M.Sc. (2007 ILA recipient)
Senior Clinical Researcher, Desmund Tutu TB Centre, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health and Faculty of Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
"Integrated HIV/TB Prevention Strategies To Reduce Morbidity in HIV-Infected Women and
Their Infants in Highly Endemic Settings: Towards Integrated Comprehensive Maternal and Infant PMTCT Care"

Purnima Madhivanan, M.B.B.S., M.P.H, Ph.D. (2007 ILA recipient)
Executive Director, Public Health Research Institute, Mysore, Karnataka, India
"Project Kisalaya ("young tender shooter" in Sanskrit): Integrating Traditional Birth Attendants in PMTCT Service Delivery in Mysore District, India"

2006 Jewelers for Children Elizabeth Glaser Scientist Award – Dr. Margaret Feeney, MD, MSc.

Recipients are selected for their knowledge of, innovation in, and dedication to the field. Each grant represents a five-year commitment of $685,000 in funding and ensures that the long-term efforts of the scientists are devoted specifically to better understanding how HIV/AIDS uniquely affects children.

Dr. Feeney is a pediatrician and Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco. She has had extensive training in infectious diseases and human immunology, notably with mentorship by Dr. Bruce Walker. Dr. Feeney is also a former Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Scholar awardee. Her proposal, The Immune Response to Acute Prenatal HIV Infection is based upon the hypothesis that the way an infant's immune system responds to HIV during the initial period when they become infected affects the overall course of the infection during the years to follow.

Life has not been easy for Mfanzile and Zanele Dlamini. When Zanele was pregnant with their first child, she was diagnosed with HIV. Sadly, the young couple had no access to HIV treatment or services that could help prevent the transmission of HIV to their baby. Their daughter became sick and died before her second birthday.

When Mfanzile grew ill himself, Zanele took him to an Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation-supported clinic, where both began antiretroviral treatment to control the virus. Three years later, Zanele became pregnant again and gave birth to a baby girl named Phiwa. Thanks to critical services that help prevent transmission of HIV from mother to child, Phiwa is HIV-negative.

The Dlaminis have many challenges ahead. They also have hope. And baby Phiwa has a chance to grow up free of HIV. Phiwa's future would not be possible without the support of partners like Jewelers for Children, whose generous grants to the Foundation are making healthy childhoods a reality around the world.