CWA and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation

CWA and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation have had a long history.  CWA delegates to the 1990 CWA Convention adopted the Foundation as their charity of choice after hearing Elizabeth’s personal story and the devastating effects of Pediatric AIDs.

As our Charity of Choice locals commit to donating $1 per member per year to the Foundation.  Over the last 21 years CWA locals have raised almost $7 million dollars for the Foundation, and that is with fifty per cent of our locals participating.  Just think what we could do if all Locals contributed something to the Foundation.

While many locals contribute directly from their Local treasury, many locals sponsor very successful fundraising events.  Each year we honor the Locals that have gone the extra mile.  The local that raises the most money receives the Ariel Award, three locals (based on size) receive the Hope award and all locals contributing 200% or more of their quota receive special recognition.

Elizabeth Glaser contracted HIV in a blood transfusion in 1981 while giving birth to her daughter, Ariel. She and her husband, Paul, later learned that Elizabeth had unknowingly passed the virus on to Ariel through breast milk and that their son, Jake, had contracted the virus in utero. The Glasers discovered, in the course of trying to treat Ariel, that drug companies and health agencies had no idea that HIV was prevalent among children. The only drugs on the market were for adults — nothing had been tested or approved for children.

After Ariel lost her battle with AIDS in 1988 at age 7, Elizabeth - determined to save her son’s life and not let other children fall further behind - started the Foundation. Now, the organization that started with three mothers working around a kitchen table is the worldwide leader in the fight to eliminate pediatric AIDS. Working in more than 5,000 sites in 17 countries, the Foundation has one critical mission: to prevent pediatric HIV infection and to eradicate pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention and treatment programs. Simply put, they will not stop until we have a generation free of HIV.

Elizabeth lost her own battle with AIDS in 1994, and to honor her legacy, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation was renamed the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF). It would take another nine years, but her vision for pediatric drug research would become a reality in 2003, when the U.S. Congress passes the Pediatric Research Equity Act. This new law dramatically increases the number of drugs tested and labeled for use in children.

EGPAF has become the leading global nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing pediatric HIV infection and eliminating pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention and treatment programs and has inspired a movement that has resulted in the virtual elimination of pediatric AIDS in the U.S. and Europe. Still, in other parts of the world, pediatric AIDS rages on. Each day, 1,000 children worldwide become infected with HIV; 90 percent will contract the virus through mother-to-child transmission. Without diagnosis and treatment, most of these children will suffer a painful, premature death.

EGPAF is currently supporting more than 5,400 sites around the world. Since EGPAF's international efforts began, EGPAF-supported programs have reached more than 14.2 million women with services to prevent the transmission of HIV to their babies; tested more than 12.4 million women for HIV; enrolled more than 1.6 million individuals, including more than 125,000 children, into HIV care and support programs; and started more than 850,000 individuals, including nearly 70,000 children, on antiretroviral treatment (all data current through December 31, 2011).

At our CWA Conventions we are always fortunate to have both representatives from the Foundation and ambassadors, people who are survivors of Pediatric AIDS.  Jake Glaser, now an adult, has spoken at our convention more than once.  It is always heart-warming to see firsthand young people’s lives that we have touched.

Annie Hill, CWA Secretary-Treasurer has served on the Foundation’s Board for almost four years.  She states, "I am honored to represent our Union and the great work we do, but also to be able to promote an organization that does so much good."

Our support for this work makes us Union and it is part of what makes us CWA.

To find out more about the Foundation and its incredible work around the world, please visit their website at www.pedaids.org.

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