Support HIV/AIDS Treatment for Kids in China

When PATS first started close to 8 years ago, having Zhang Ying (the head of AOS, counterpart of PATS, based in China) visit the US once a year seemed impossible. The only way for the two teams to meet face-to-face was for US-based PATS volunteers to make regular visits to China. As traveling from China to the US becomes easier and easier and the AOS-PATS relationship continues to mature, the PATS workers in China have the opportunity to visit the US and are taking over more responsibilities for the PATS program. Zhang Ying, the PATS lead health worker and a few AOS volunteers came to the US to meet with the PATS team in the US in February. The objective of the visit was to transfer operational knowledge on fundraising and antiretroviral drug adherence monitoring and evaluation from the US team to the PATS-China team. The visit fostered numerous discussions and initiatives.

We discussed one of the most successful fundraising programs, Sponsor a Child, extensively. The concept of pairing donors to specific children allowing for long term continuous communication was foreign to the PATS-China team. The volunteers in the US talked about different approaches to make sure the sponsors/donors stay engaged and feel the personal connection so important for the success of the Sponsor a Child program. We also talked about the possibility of expanding the program to Chinese donors. We look forward to supporting the workers in China in expanding the Sponsor a Child program to Chinese donors.  **To Sponsor a Child via our GlobalGiving page, simply select the option to cover a child's expenses for one year, which is $880.  We will then contact you directly to initiate the sonsorship and periodic child updates.

When Zhang Ying and the lead health worker were in the US, we also had the opportunity to go through each child's health status. We identified some children whose CD4 count ("good" white blood cell count important to fighting off infections) was decreasing over time and discussed the approaches to take to make sure the children are not developing drug resistance. By talking about each child's status one by one, we were able to brainstorm on ideas of further improvements of the program.

Following up from the face-to-face meeting in Boston, we continue to stay in touch to put in action of what we discussed through emails and phone calls. The workers in China are in the process of drafting Sponsor a Child letters and they have talked to the local doctors about potential issues with some of the kids' medications. The PATS-China team is beginning to drive more and more initiatives and the US team play a supportive role. We look forward to continuing to refine the ways of collaboration between the two teams and sharing our successes along the way with you.