Support HIV/AIDS Treatment for Kids in China

When traveling to Fuyang, Anhui, China for work 12 years ago, Professor Kay Johnson- PATS co-founder- met a 12 year old girl named Nan Nan, who was HIV-positive and extremely sick. It was disheartening to learn that there were no medications for pediatric HIV/AIDS in China at that time (when they were available elsewhere in the world) and there was nothing the local CDC in China could do to help her. Like countless HIV-positive children before her in China, she would die.  ‘You don’t just walk away from a very sick child’ Kay reflects.

Trying to find help to treat Nan Nan, Kay rolled up her sleeves and extensively reached out to her network of doctors, friends, colleagues, and friends’ friends. One day, a colleague introduced Kay to AID for AIDS (AFA, https://aidforaids.org/), a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of people affected by HIV, headquartered in New York. Kay got an email from them saying they could help with pediatric medications for Nan Nan: “It’s not easy but we will try” she remembers them saying.   AFA has high requirements before donating medications and they needed a doctor’s prescription and lab tests before they could send them out.  It was a challenge to meet these requirements, but Kay was committed to giving Nan Nan a chance to survive.

The first hurdle was that there was no pediatric AIDS doctor in Fuyang or any city close by who could write the required prescription. There was one doctor in Beijing who had been trained by Harvard doctors. On New Year’s Eve of 2004, when people traditionally gathered with families to celebrate the New Year over meals and toasts, the Director of PATS’ local partner AOS took Nan Nan on a quiet empty train and went to Beijing. Nan Nan was 13 years old then, but due to sickness, malnutrition and lack of care, she was so small she looked like a 7 or 8 year old. The doctor confirmed that Nan Nan had full blown AIDS and provided the prescription to AFA. Very soon AFA sent out the pediatric medication to Nan Nan.  Kay recalls: “without intervention, she wouldn’t have survived that winter.”  Not only did Nan Nan survive but she thrived. Thanks to life saving medication and the supports provided by the PATS program, her CD4 count increased until the HIV virus was undetectable and she was able to attend school, study painting and eventually marry. Today she is the proud mother of a toddler who is HIV-free!

Though pediatric ARV medication is now available in China for HIV-positive children, changing the prescription could jeopardize the health of Nan Nan, whose body has responded so well to her imported drug regimen.  Consequently Aid for AIDS has continued to faithfully send regular packages with the medication she needs to maintain control of her illness. PATS is extremely grateful to partners such as AID for AIDS who allow us to provide the medication needed by Nan Nan and others to not just survive but thrive.