Preventing HIV in babies

Watch Robin Smalley's video on Preventing HIV in babies...
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Preventing HIV in babies

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I think it is so incredible that even the most educated people in the developed world don't know how easy it is to prevent transmission of HIV from mother to child. We don't hear about it anymore in America. We've taken care of that. It is so terrible that there are still 1,000 babies born every day infected unnecessarily in Africa. Really, all it takes is a simple medical intervention. The medicine is available now in Africa. Women just have to be educated to how that works and support it in the intervention. Without intervention, 40 percent of the mothers who are HIV positive will give HIV to their babies. With the medical intervention, we can get that down to 2 percent. The medicine is there. What we need to do is empower and educate women, so that they can access that treatment and they are not to afraid to disclose. That's what our Mentor Mothers do.

Watch Robin Smalley's video on Preventing HIV in babies...

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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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