Childreach, US Member of PLAN International, Receives $1 Million Grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Develop Initiative for African Children Affected by HIV/AIDS

DURBAN, South Africa -- A $1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been awarded to Childreach, the US member of PLAN International – one of the world's largest child-focused development organizations – to develop an initiative to help the millions of African children affected by HIV/AIDS. The initiative, created by PLAN in partnership with CARE, Save the Children and the World Conference of Religion and Peace, will result in an unprecedented pan-African effort, providing a package of cost-effective and practical interventions, that provide protection, care and support for children living with, or at risk for, HIV/AIDS. The grant was announced by the Foundation today during the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa.

The initiative, Bringing Hope to Children: Community-Based Solutions for African Children Affected by HIV/AIDS, will begin with intensive planning for a five-year, large-scale effort to expand existing programs and create new community-based organizations to address the pandemic nationally, regionally and locally.

According to Samuel Worthington, CEO of Childreach, "Innovative local programs exist across Africa that assist children whose lives have been affected by the disease. However, these efforts are currently only able to offer care to less than ten percent of children in need. Support from a multitude of sources is necessary to make the fullest use of the abilities of African communities to care for their children. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's grant to develop the Bringing Hope to Children initiative allows us to create a framework for the effective implementation of a major campaign for millions of African children. This initiative will also identify the successful programs already in place and then offer them on a broader scale. With five young people becoming HIV positive every minute, we have no time to lose."

Sandra L. Thurman, director, Office of National AIDS Policy, said of the Childreach/PLAN initiative:
"In Africa, where an entire generation of children is in jeopardy, programs like Bringing Hope to Children are needed to check the escalation of AIDS. Amidst all of this tragedy there is the opportunity to protect children and families, and to support their communities, by working together and mobilizing resources, as Childreach and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are doing."

Of the estimated 34.3 million people infected with the virus, more than 24 million live in sub-Saharan Africa. Over 12 million African children under the age of 15 have been orphaned by the disease. Millions more live in families where one or both parents are infected. Although only ten percent of the world's population is in Africa, it accounts for 70 percent of the world's HIV infections. HIV/AIDS is the region's leading killer, claiming the lives of 5,500 children, women and men every day. Without a major response to this challenge, an estimated 40 million African children will be orphaned by AIDS by 2010, the equivalent of 50 percent of American children being orphaned during that same time.

Childreach, the US member of PLAN International, is a global, child-focused development organization linking, through sponsorship, caring people in the US with needy children and their families in emerging countries. Founded in 1937 as Foster Parents Plan, Childreach is nonprofit, non-partisan and non-sectarian. Childreach and PLAN's mission is to achieve lasting improvements in the quality of life of deprived children through processes that unite people across cultures and add meaning and value to their lives. Childreach's programs in are place in over 40 countries around the world, helping children in need and fostering relationships that will increase understanding and unity among people of different cultures and promoting their rights and interests. For more information, call 1-800-556-7918 or visit Childreach online.