Remember Camp Hope this Holiday!

It’s the season of giving and World Camp asks you not to forget the children of Malawi as you make your holiday shopping list this year.  When you dedicate a donation to send a child to Camp Hope, you will undoubtedly transform a life.  Through our program, children living with HIV/AIDs are able to experience a positive atmosphere designed to empower them to regain their sense of optimism, self-confidence, and hope.  What better way to make a difference this holiday season than to open up a world of possibilities to a child living with a life-threatening illness. 

TEACH A CHILD TO READ & WRITE

It's a simple solution - literacy and education are essential to escaping poverty. Basic language skills dramatically improve success in school and can lead children to a brighter future. $5 provides a child access to after school literacy workshops for a week. Suggested gift: $25

TRAIN & EQUIP COMMUNITY LEADERS

It takes a village - leadership workshops engage all community stakeholders in the process of establishing goals and services.  Engaging and mobilizing all stakeholders builds a legacy sustained by the community themselves. $5 sponsors a community member's participation in a leadership workshop. Suggested gift: $75

PROVIDE BOYS AND GIRLS LIFE SKILLS TRAINING

Life skills projects are designed to foster educated, valued, and healthy adolescents who are decision makers and the future leaders who will drive positive social change in their rural villages. $10 sponsors a child's participation in a four day  life skills camp. Suggested gift: $125

SEND A CHILD WITH HIV TO CAMP HOPE

Camp Hope Malawi is the result of World Camp's partnership with the Paul Newman Foundation and the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative. Built upon the Association of Hole in the Wall Camp's model this project provides HIV positive youth the social and emotional support to regain their sense of optimism, possibility and hope. Sponsor a child this Holiday and join World Camp in building the self-worth and confidence in 60 HIV+ youth at Camp Hope Malawi. Suggested gift: $275

Possible Civil Rights Changes Afoot in Malawi

In a recently released announcement Malawi’s Justice Minister, Ephrain Chiume, stated, “In view of the sentiments from the general public and in response to public opinion regarding certain laws, the government wishes to announce to the Malawi nation that It is submitting the relevant laws and provisions for review.”  The “laws and provisions” referred to include sections of the penal code criminalizing homosexuality, labeled as “indecent practices and unnatural acts” under Malawi law.

The announcement represents a sweeping change in sentiment for the African nation, which sentenced a gay couple to 14 years in prison just last year.  That case, as well as an otherwise poor record on human rights, prompted big donors like the U.S., Britain, and Germany to suspend their aid to Malawi, which depends on hand-outs for as much as 40% of its budget.   Recently, the U.S. proclaimed that it would examine the treatment of gay, lesbian, and transgendered citizens when allocating foreign aid, which may also have contributed to the change.  Other laws that will be under scrutiny include provisions allowing the Information Minister to ban newspapers; law suits by or against government and public officers; and laws permitting police officers to search or make an arrest without providing reasons.

To read the entire article on AfricaNews.com, please visit:

http://www.africanews.com/site/Malawi_to_review_antigay_law/list_messages/40577

Cure: No Longer a Four-Letter Word in the Fight Against HIV

A diagnosis of HIV/AIDS used to mean nothing short of a death sentence.  More recently, with the development of effective antiviral drugs, it has meant something closer to a lifelong, chronic illness.  Now there is new hope in the possibility of a cure.  Two main approaches to curing HIV have demonstrated recent success: the sterilizing cure and the functional cure.  While the former focuses on eradication of the virus from the body, the latter allows the patient to remain healthy without antiviral drugs, although it does not eliminate the virus.  

Timothy Brown is an example of the sterilizing cure’s success.  Brown, who had both HIV and leukemia, has been living virus-free for almost four years after undergoing two bone-marrow transplants to treat his cancer.  While living in Berlin in 2007 and 2008, Brown received bone marrow from a donor among the 1 percent of Northern Europeans who are naturally resistant to HIV infection because they lack CCR5, a protein on the surface of immune cells that the virus uses to enter the body.  Although Brown’s recovery is astounding, experts worry that replicating his results would not be feasible for many patients because of the high cost and risk associated with bone marrow transplants.  Furthermore, they point out that it would be next to impossible to find not only immunologically matching donors, but also ones with the CCR5 mutation.  

The difficulties associated with a sterilizing cure such as Brown’s have prompted scientists to explore functional cures.  For example, researchers are working on eliminating CCR5 in patients’ own immune cells, making them resistant to infection.  The case of the “Trenton Patient” has led to further optimism that functional cure may be possible.  Although he wished to remain anonymous in the press, the Trenton Patient shared his remarkable story, claiming he “felt like Superman” after his treatment.  As part of an experimental trial, doctors removed white blood cells from his body and treated them with a gene therapy developed by Sangamo BioSciences in order to create proteins that would interfere with CCR5 genes.  The treated cells were then injected into the patient’s body and he went off his antiviral medication.  Although the amount of HIV in his blood rose initially, by the end of the twelve week trial period, it had dropped to an undetectable level.  While the Trenton Patient’s results are amazing, five other patients involved in a similar study did not fair so well.  

Despite the fact that both Timothy Brown and the Trenton Patient’s cases represent results that could not likely be replicated in large numbers of patients, their triumphs have renewed hope that a cure to HIV/AIDS is on the horizon.  “‘It’s hard to understate how the scientific community has swung in thinking about the possibility that we can do this,’ said Kevin Frost, chief executive of the Foundation for Aids Research, a nonprofit group.  ‘Cure, in the context of H.I.V., had become almost a four-letter word.’”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/health/new-hope-of-a-cure-for-hiv.html?pagewanted=all

World AIDS Day Candlelight Memorial Vigil in Asheville

Join the Western North Carolina AIDS Project and World Camp for a candlelight vigil in Pack Square on December 1st from 7-9 pm.  
Be sure to visit the 2011 AIDS Memorial Quilt, which is on display from today through December 3rd at the Pack Place Pavilion.  For more information, please visit:
http://www.wncap.org/wad/