The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Urges Women Of Childbearing Age And Their Partners To Get Tested
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation urges all women of childbearing age and their partners to get tested for HIV on National HIV Testing Day 2001, Wednesday, June 27th. Women of childbearing age represent one of the fastest growing segments of the HIV positive population in the United States. HIV testing is the only way to know if you are infected. You cannot tell by looking at someone if he or she carries HIV. Someone can look and feel perfectly healthy and still be infected. In fact, an estimated one-third of those who are HIV-positive do not know it. Neither do their sex partners. To be tested, ask your doctor, local health department, or the CDC National STD and AIDS Hotlines 1-800-342-AIDS (2437) about the location of facilities near you.
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation recommends that pregnant women in particular be tested for HIV for two reasons. First, if HIV positive, a woman can take medications that lower the chance of passing HIV to her infant before, during, or after birth. Second, HIV testing and counseling provides an opportunity for a woman to find out if she is infected and, if so, to receive medical treatment that may help delay the progression of HIV into AIDS. For women who are not infected, counseling provides an opportunity to learn important information about how to avoid being exposed to HIV.
Without medical treatment, an infected woman's newborn has about a one in four chance of being born with HIV. As a result of routine HIV testing and medical treatment during pregnancy and labor for those women found to be HIV positive, we have dramatically reduced the risk of transmission of HIV from mother to baby from 25% to less than 2% in the United States. In 1999, 300 - 400 babies were born with HIV. It is estimated that the majority of their mothers were not tested for HIV as part of their routine prenatal care.
The Foundation encourages counseling before and after taking the HIV-antibody test. This counseling explains the results of the test, how to protect ones health, and (if the individual is infected) how to prevent passing the virus to others, including newborns. Counseling should be a central part of the testing process.
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is the leading worldwide nonprofit organization dedicated to identifying, funding, and conducting pediatric HIV/AIDS research as well as promoting global education, awareness and compassion about HIV/AIDS in children. In addition, the Foundation is committed to working on other serious and life threatening diseases facing children through the newly created Glaser Pediatric Research Network. The Network brings together five of the nation's pre-eminent academic medical centers in an unprecedented collaboration that will accelerate better treatments for seriously ill children, help train the next generation of pediatric clinical investigators, and serve as a united voice to advocate policies that improve children's health worldwide. Since 1988, the Foundation has raised more than $120 million to ensure that children are at the forefront of every scientific breakthrough.
For more information, or to contact Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, see their website at: www.pedaids.org
