HIV is preventable in infants: $2 covers the cost of maternal HIV

HIV is preventable in infants: $2 covers the cost of maternal HIV testing, and a $1 dose of Nevirapine for mother and newborn reduces HIV transmissions during the birth process by 50 percent. With continuing treatment with antiretroviral drugs, infected mothers can survive to raise their children.

The cost of treating the patient group of the entire country, including the 150,000 Liberian women infected annually, is approximately $1 million.

The Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project partners with Global Strategies for HIV Prevention, founded by Dr. Arthur Ammann in 1999 to raise funds for HIV prevention in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. Ammann, retired UC San Francisco professor of pediatrics and immunology, is credited with the first diagnosis of pediatric AIDS.

Selfridge, Global Strategies’ program manager for Liberia, presented slides of the three Liberian public health clinics that benefit from Rotary support: New Kru Town, Star of the Sea and St. Joseph’s Hospital. Liberian women with HIV are so stigmatized, according to Selfridge, that they often walk from remote villages for their treatment to preserve anonymity.

The clinics and home care are desperately needed, she said, as there is only one doctor for every 20,000 people, and AIDS is the cause of death for one-third of the country’s children.

Closer to home, Keeley and fellow Stanford students who work with the FACE AIDS organization have spearheaded efforts to mobilize students to fight the disease in Africa.

Keeley discussed his participation in the Ride Against AIDS, a fundraiser for which he cycled across the United States last summer, covering 4,000 miles in 67 days.

Along the way, the cyclists visited Rotary Clubs to share their stories and purpose. Casey presented a $1,000 donation from the Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project in support of the students’ ride.

Rotary has organized a fundraiser to support an upcoming training trip to Liberia. Club members Casey and Allan Varni plan to travel to Monrovia Feb. 19-26 on a vocational training trip to instruct 40 people in caregiving at three Liberian clinics and in private homes. A nurse and a scientist will acompany them. With assistance from Liberian Rotarians, they intend to establish medical supplies delivery and financial safeguard systems.

The club is scheduled to screen “The Other City,” a documentary that exposes the AIDS epidemic in Washington, D.C., 6-9 p.m. Feb. 8 in Los Altos High School’s Eagle Theater, 201 Almond Ave. José Antonio Vargas, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and graduate of Mountain View High, co-produced the film.