Mothers 2 Mothers organization

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Mothers 2 Mothers organization

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I think one of the greatest injustices in the world today, is that we have one baby a day in the developed world being born with HIV. And yet, we still have 1,000 babies born a day in subsaharan African with HIV, completely unnecessarily. This is something that we can eradicate. There is no reason in the world a child should be facing this devastating future anymore. Mothers 2 Mothers addresses this because we take newly delivered moms who are HIV positive. We train them and we employ them as mentor mothers. So that when young mothers come in and they are facing this potentially devastating diagnosis, immediately, a mentor mother is there to put her arms around her and say, "You are not alone. I'm positive, too. My baby was born with HIV negative. We are going to get through this together." Through the pregnancy and after the pregnancy, until that baby is 18 months, that mentor mother is going to ensure that that mother gets the medical attention that she needs. Deals with stigma. Deals with discrimination. Gets the nutritional counseling. Gets all the help that she needs to stay healthy and stay alive, so that she can raise her baby. Mothers 2 Mothers is part of the global plan to eliminate pediatric AIDS by 2015. This is something we can do, and I don't understand how any mother can not be affected by that. We can make pediatric AIDS a thing of the past. That's an amazing legacy to leave our children.

See Robin Smalley's video on Mothers 2 Mothers organization...

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Robin Smalley

Parent with a Purpose & Co-Founder of mothers2mothers

After a successful Emmy Award-winning career as a television producer/director, Robin Smalley co-founded mothers2mothers, a Cape Town-based NGO providing education, empowerment and suppport for pregnant women and new mothers living with HIV/AIDS. m2m reaches these women with a unique approach, by employing and professionalizing lay people living with HIV (Mentor Mothers). As role models in their communities, Mentor Mothers fight stigma as valued members of prenatal care teams that have traditionally been populated by dwindling numbers of overworked and overstressed doctors and nurses. As m2m’s first executive director and current International Director, Robin has guided the organization through a period of extraordinary growth. A tiny grassroots endeavor established in 2001, m2m is now a pivotal part of the Global Plan to eliminate pediatric AIDS by 2015, operating in more than 400 sites in seven African countries and employing nearly 1,000 HIV-positive mothers. m2m has been honored at the White House, is the recipient of the Skoll Entrepreneurial Award, the Schwab Entrepreneurial Award, the Global Health Council Best Practices Award, and the Henry Kravis Leadership Award. Robin is married to architect Jeffrey Smalley and has two daughters, Hannah and Sophia. She continues to maintain membership in the Directors and Writers Guilds of America. 

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Transcription: 
I think one of the greatest injustices in the world today, is that we have one baby a day in the developed world being born with HIV. And yet, we still have 1,000 babies born a day in subsaharan African with HIV, completely unnecessarily. This is something that we can eradicate. There is no reason in the world a child should be facing this devastating future anymore. Mothers 2 Mothers addresses this because we take newly delivered moms who are HIV positive. We train them and we employ them as mentor mothers. So that when young mothers come in and they are facing this potentially devastating diagnosis, immediately, a mentor mother is there to put her arms around her and say, "You are not alone. I'm positive, too. My baby was born with HIV negative. We are going to get through this together." Through the pregnancy and after the pregnancy, until that baby is 18 months, that mentor mother is going to ensure that that mother gets the medical attention that she needs. Deals with stigma. Deals with discrimination. Gets the nutritional counseling. Gets all the help that she needs to stay healthy and stay alive, so that she can raise her baby. Mothers 2 Mothers is part of the global plan to eliminate pediatric AIDS by 2015. This is something we can do, and I don't understand how any mother can not be affected by that. We can make pediatric AIDS a thing of the past. That's an amazing legacy to leave our children.