Support HIV/AIDS Treatment for Kids in China

I started PATS in 2007 after arriving as a volunteer in Anhui, China and finding that 15 children had died from AIDS that Spring alone. At that time there was no treatment for HIV-positive children in China--only for adults-- and orphanages were not taking children with HIV. Having recently lived in South Africa where I had worked on projects to support HIV-positive women and children, I knew that there was a way to help HIV-positive children in China and that these children did not need to die. Partnering with an already established Chinese local organization-Fuyang AIDS Orphan Salvation Association (AOS)-- and scores of US-based volunteers, PATS was formed to support the HIV-positive children who needed treatment, care and other support. At its height PATS supported 50 HIV-positive children and their households in rural areas of Anhui and Henan province. We were there when our youngest child Zhen Zhen came to us at age 3- abandoned in a park due to her HIV status and terrified of new people. Today she is 11 and is thriving, reading, writing, dancing and singing. We were there when our oldest child Nan Nan-originally kept in a pig pen and kept alive by bits of food thrown at her- was brought into the program so sick and close to death. Today she is 26, happily married and is the mother of a healthy child. She also returned to work with PATS and help other HIV-positive children, bringing the program full circle.

As we look back at the past ten years our team in the US feels really good about what we- all volunteers- have been able to support:

• We enabled 50 children and their families to learn how to access HIV treatment, manage their treatment and care, and ultimately not succumb to AIDS.
• We kept all PATS children out of institutions and were able to keep them with relatives or placed them in loving homes with caretakers trained to care for HIV-positive children.
• We ensured that all PATS children had access to hygiene kits, and that they had adequate nutrition needed to keep their bodies strong.
• We sent children to school and where not possible we got them tutors at home.
• We trained local health workers and partnered with local doctors to improve the care children were receiving at home and in medical facilities.
• We built the capacity of local staff, training them to learn how to support children's medical, nutritional, psychosocial and hygiene needs, write reports, and work as part of a team.
• We helped PATS staff better partner with local doctors and take advantage of services available in China.

We are so proud of what has been accomplished and humbled by the support we have received by donors to do this.

As we enter our 10th year of service we have found that many of our 50 children-- though still facing many challenges--are not as vulnerable as they were when PATS was initiated. For starters, pediatric HIV treatment became available in China so children were not dying in such striking numbers. We still provide treatment for two children who can't switch to the Chinese formula, but we insist that all other children utilize the treatment available in China. We have been able to educate all of our children and help many of them gain valuable work and life skills needed to become self- supporting. We have seen PATS children go on to middle school, high school, technical school and university; start jobs in factories or companies; get married and have their own healthy children. We have even had several former PATS children such as Nan Nan return to work for us to help other families. 

Given the increased capacity of our Chinese partner and the less critical need for our physical presence on the ground, as of January 1, 2017, we have decided to turn PATS over to our local partner AOS. While all of us will remain involved with AOS and committed to PATS children, we feel that after so many years our local partner is well equipped to run the work on their own and the US team can take on a more supportive role. Many of our staff have been with us since PATS began, are extremely close with the children and have the training needed to continue with the work. Also, many of our children have grown up and have relocated for work, school or marriage reducing the total number of PATS children who need support this next year to 18. To be sure these remaining children get what they need we have committed to send our local partner $25,000 to be sure they have the financial means necessary to continue to support them going forward. To this end we are collecting one final round of funds on Global Giving and through our current supporters until December 31, 2016 for this purpose. 

It is with mixed emotions that we say goodbye to the day-to-day management of PATS but see this transition as a sign of success and progress. It has been such a privilege to initiate, grow and now turn over this program. We thank all of our Global Giving donors for allowing our work to be as successful as it was.  

Thank you!

Eliza and the PATS Team of Dedicated Volunteers