Today was a good day in that I met up with several of my colleagues and friends from Hopkins SPH. One is working with PMTCT and early infant detection in Malawi on a national level and we plan to discuss ILF’s future endeavors with maternal and pediatric HIV in Salima. Her insight will be valuable.

Sessions I attended today primarily focused on pediatric ART and EID in resource-limited areas, and the extreme challenges clinics and health care providers face. On a global level, only 8 percent of HIV exposed infants are tested and identified before 1-2 months of age. The goal is to test all exposed infants between 4-6 weeks of age to be able to early-initiate ART, which has shown to decrease mortality associated with HIV by 76 percent. Clearly, the challenges facing these EID programs are universal.

ILF associate Brad Gautney is attending the International AIDS Society conference in South Africa this week and will be reporting on his learnings.

The opening day of the conference was interesting as the first session I attended discussed infant feeding and HIV. The data are overwhelming that even in the face of possible further HIV infection, exclusively breastfeeding for a minimum of the first six months of an HIV exposed infant’s life is essential to reduce mortality and increase survival. The assessment that two of my colleagues performed with ILF in Haiti in January underscores the need for further education in the majority of HIV programs there.

We will soon be making this data available to many of the organizations working in Haiti as we continue to work to improve the care they provide for mothers and infants affected by HIV. The opening ceremony here was moving because it highlighted the magnitude of lives touched by HIV/AIDS around the world. Despite a global economic recession, child mortality, maternal mortality and HIV/AIDS are not in a recession. This only solidifies the work that ILF and its partners are taking on together in Haiti and Malawi!

Follow the conference at www.ias2009.org or on blogspot here.