Mothers2mothers

Last updated

mothers2mothers
Founded2001
FounderMitch Besser (Founder/ Medical Director), Gene Falk (Co-Founder, Former CEO), Robin Allinson Smalley (Co-Founder/ International Director), Frank Beadle de Palomo (Current CEO)
Type Operating public charity
(IRS exemption status): 501(c)(3)
FocusPrevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV
Location
  • Cape Town, South Africa
Revenue
$15.6 million (2009) [1]
Website www.m2m.org

mothers2mothers is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV by providing education and support for pregnant women and new mothers living with HIV.

Contents

Founded in 2001, the organisation currently works in over 400 sites in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa and employs over a 1000 women living with HIV. [2]

History

mothers2mothers was founded by Mitchell Besser at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2001. [3]

In January 2000 Besser moved to Cape Town, South Africa as a member of the University of Cape Town's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and as a consultant for the clinical roll-out of Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) services at Groote Schuur Hospital. [4]

While working at Groote Schuur, Besser realised that even when PMTCT medical treatment was available, it was often less than effective because of social, emotional and psychological barriers to success. [5] To help break through those barriers, Besser identified South Africa's HIV-positive mothers as a "valuable, under-utilized resource." [4] Besser enlisted new mothers living openly with HIV/AIDS who, as Mentor Mothers, began to connect with and educate their pregnant peers about the importance of PMTCT services, disclosing their status to loved ones, and living positive lives. The result of these efforts is mothers2mothers today. [3]

In recent years,[ when? ] as the programme has expanded internationally, the organisation has taken on the name mothers2mothers + [Country X], e.g. mothers2mothers South Africa and mothers2mothers Kenya. However, worldwide and in the press, the organisation as a whole is known as mothers2mothers.

Results

The mothers2mothers program currently operates in over 400 sites in the following countries:

mothers2mothers employs over 1000 women living with HIV. [2] Since 2001, mothers2mothers has enrolled over 1,000,000 HIV-positive pregnant women and new-mothers and logged nearly three million unique client interactions.

At least one source claims that in 2010, mothers2mothers enrolled approximately 300,000 unique HIV-positive pregnant women and new mothers into its program. [5] However, a recent investigation by GiveWell has led that organisation to question the way mothers2mothers counts its clients. [6]

Awards and recognition

Funding

Foundation funding

mothers2mothers has received funding from the Skoll Foundation, [12] Mulago Foundation, [13] Jasmine Social Investments, [14] and other foundations.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annie Lennox</span> Scottish musician (born 1954)

Ann Lennox is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart went on to achieve international success in the 1980s as Eurythmics. Appearing in the 1983 music video for "Sweet Dreams " with orange cropped hair and wearing a man's business suit, the BBC states, "all eyes were on Annie Lennox, the singer whose powerful androgynous look defied the male gaze". Subsequent hits with Eurythmics include "There Must Be an Angel ", "Love Is a Stranger" and "Here Comes the Rain Again".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation</span>

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing pediatric HIV infection and eliminating pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention and treatment programs. Founded in 1988, the organization works in 12 countries around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Cotton</span> Welsh entrepreneur and philanthropist (born 1950)

Ann Lesley Cotton OBE is a Welsh entrepreneur and philanthropist who was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2006 Queen's New Year Honours List. The honour was in recognition of her services to education of young women in rural Africa as the founder of Camfed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS in South Africa</span> Health concern in South Africa

HIV/AIDS is one of the most serious health concerns in South Africa. The country has the highest number of people afflicted with HIV of any country, and the fourth-highest adult HIV prevalence rate, according to the 2019 United Nations statistics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PATH (global health organization)</span> Global health nonprofit

PATH is an international, nonprofit global health organization. PATH is based in Seattle with 1,600 employees in more than 70 countries around the world. Its president and CEO is Nikolaj Gilbert, who is also the Managing Director and CEO of Foundations for Appropriate Technologies in Health (FATH), PATH's Swiss subsidiary. PATH focuses on six platforms: vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, devices, system, and service innovations.

The history of HIV/AIDS in Australia is distinctive, as Australian government bodies recognised and responded to the AIDS pandemic relatively swiftly, with the implementation of effective disease prevention and public health programs, such as needle and syringe programs (NSPs). As a result, despite significant numbers of at-risk group members contracting the virus in the early period following its discovery, Australia achieved and has maintained a low rate of HIV infection in comparison to the rest of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS in Lesotho</span>

HIV/AIDS in Lesotho constitutes a very serious threat to Basotho and to Lesotho's economic development. Since its initial detection in 1986, HIV/AIDS has spread at alarming rates in Lesotho. In 2000, King Letsie III declared HIV/AIDS a natural disaster. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in 2016, Lesotho's adult prevalence rate of 25% is the second highest in the world, following Eswatini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS in Mozambique</span>

Mozambique is a country particularly hard-hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. According to 2008 UNAIDS estimates, this southeast African nation has the 8th highest HIV rate in the world. With 1,600,000 Mozambicans living with HIV, 990,000 of which are women and children, Mozambique's government realizes that much work must be done to eradicate this infectious disease. To reduce HIV/AIDS within the country, Mozambique has partnered with numerous global organizations to provide its citizens with augmented access to antiretroviral therapy and prevention techniques, such as condom use. A surge toward the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS in women and children has additionally aided in Mozambique's aim to fulfill its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Nevertheless, HIV/AIDS has made a drastic impact on Mozambique; individual risk behaviors are still greatly influenced by social norms, and much still needs to be done to address the epidemic and provide care and treatment to those in need.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avert (HIV and AIDS organisation)</span> British charitable organization

Avert is an international charity that uses digital communications to increase health literacy on HIV and sexual health, among those most affected in areas of greatest need, in order to reduce new infections and improve health and well-being.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Born HIV Free</span>

The Born HIV Free campaign has been created to mobilize public support for a world where no child is born with HIV by 2015. Originated and supported by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and produced by the Global Fund this is the largest ever social media campaign of its kind.

VillageReach is a registered 501(c)(3) that works with governments to solve health care delivery challenges in low-resource communities. It is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, in the United States, with offices in various countries including Mozambique, Malawi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa. The VillageReach approach includes developing, testing, implementing, and scaling new systems, technologies and programs that improve health outcomes. This is achieved by extending the reach and enhancing the quality of health care. The benefits are manifested through supply chain and logistics improvements, information and communication technology, human resources for health, private sector engagement, and advocacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Chen</span>

Jane Marie Chen is the co-founder of Embrace, a social enterprise startup that produces a low-cost infant warmer, that gives premature and low-birth-weight infants a better chance at survival.

The Mulago Foundation is a private foundation focused on high impact philanthropy: investing in charities and philanthropic opportunities that have the highest impact. The foundation was originally envisioned by Rainer Arnhold, a San Francisco pediatrician and philanthropist, who taught at Mulago Hospital, Uganda. The foundation was officially created by his brother Henry Arnhold after Rainer Arnhold's death in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The AIDS Support Organization</span>

The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) is an indigenous HIV and AIDS service initiative, registered in Uganda as a non-governmental organisation. It is a pioneer non-public actor in the HIV and AIDS response in Uganda. TASO is a membership organisation with over 4,000 subscriber members.

HIV in pregnancy is the presence of an HIV/AIDS infection in a woman while she is pregnant. There is a risk of HIV transmission from mother to child in three primary situations: pregnancy, childbirth, and while breastfeeding. This topic is important because the risk of viral transmission can be significantly reduced with appropriate medical intervention, and without treatment HIV/AIDS can cause significant illness and death in both the mother and child. This is exemplified by data from The Centers for Disease Control (CDC): In the United States and Puerto Rico between the years of 2014–2017, where prenatal care is generally accessible, there were 10,257 infants in the United States and Puerto Rico who were exposed to a maternal HIV infection in utero who did not become infected and 244 exposed infants who did become infected.

Breastfeeding by HIV-infected mothers is the practice of breastfeeding of HIV-infected mothers and include those who may want to or are currently breastfeeding. HIV can be transmitted to the infant through breastfeeding. The risk of transmission varies and depends on the viral load in the mother's milk. An infant can be infected with HIV throughout the duration of the pregnancy or during childbirth (intrapartum).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Medical Mission Board</span>

The Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) is an international, faith-based NGO, providing long-term, co-operative medical and development aid to communities affected by poverty and healthcare issues. It was established in 1912 and officially registered in 1928. CMMB is headquartered in New York City, USA, and currently has country offices in Haiti, Kenya, Peru, South Sudan, and Zambia.

Elmi Muller is a South African medical specialist who specialised in General Surgery and Transplantation. She currently performs kidney as well as liver transplants in both adults and children. She is the past President of the Southern African Transplantation Society who pioneered an organ transplant programme at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town for HIV positive patients using HIV positive donors. She also serves on the Executive committee of The Transplantation Society of which she currently is the vice-president. Elmi was the Chair/Head of the Division of General Surgery at Groote Schuur Hospital, University of Cape Town. She currently serves as Dean: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University.

Josephine Nabukenya is a Ugandan HIV/AIDS activist who is also living with HIV/AIDS. She serves as a Stephen Lewis Foundation Youth program coordinator at Makerere University Johns Hopkins University (MUJHU). She was awarded the Queen’s Young Leader Award in 2016 for her advocacy work. She is also an Ambassador at Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF)'s Ariel Club. She is one of the young leaders who grew from being timid to a resilient and powerful young leader who encourages other children to live positively and take their pills.

References

  1. mothers2mothers 2009 Annual Report
  2. 1 2 "m2m.org/ Where We Work". mothers2mothers. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  3. 1 2 Caelers, Di (26 June 2010). "Recognising a mother's love" (PDF). Weekend Argus. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Dr. Mitch Besser". m2m.org About Us/ Our Team. m2m.org. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Loewenberg, Samuel (2 April 2011). "Profile: Mitch Besser--helping motherswith HIV become mentors". The Lancet. 377 (9772): 1145. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60452-2. PMID   21459200. S2CID   35831424 . Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  6. Karnofsky, Holden (7 March 2012). "More errors in widely-cited figures: the case of mothers2mothers". GiveWell. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2012. Its published figures suggest that it serves a huge number of women - specifically, that it accounts for around 20% of all women on PMTCT in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet when we performed a simple check on its figures, we saw major anomalies. ... After corresponding with mothers2mothers, we believe that the anomalies we've seen are chiefly explained by flaws in mothers2mothers's data.
  7. "2005_2006 Annual Report" (PDF). mothers2mothers. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  8. "Social Innovations South Africa- Impumelelo Innovation Awards". Impumelelo. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  9. "mothers2mothers Case Study". Financial Times. 5 July 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  10. "The President Participates in a Ceremony for 2008 Recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal". The White House. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  11. "World Economic Forum Events 2009". Schwab Foundation. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  12. Farhat Kassab, Sally (2012-07-19). "Skoll Foundation Advances Global Goal to Eliminate Pediatric AIDS with $2.5 Million Award to mothers2mothers". Skoll Foundation . Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  13. "mothers2mothers (portfolio page)". Mulago Foundation . Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  14. "Who We Fund (click mothers2mothers for more details)". Jasmine Social Investments . Retrieved 2012-08-14.