Mission of the Keep A Child Alive Foundation - Coursework Example

Keep A Child Alive Foundation (KCA) al Affiliation Keep A Child Alive Foundation Keep a Child Alive Organization like many non-profit institutions, endeavors to make a difference on the international platform through offering medical care to HIV/AIDs victims and HIV/AIDs affected families across the globe. The fundamentals of the organization are geared towards zeroing the AIDs prevalence in the world through helping AIDs infected children and their communities by fighting the social, physical and economic impacts of HIV (KCA, 2014). Their mission statement inspired my research in an attempt to identify which institutions strive towards bettering our global community`s social welfare especially on the fight against HIV/AIDs infection. The founder of Keep a Child Alive Organization, Leigh Blake was inspired to initiate the organization in 2003 after a life changing encounter at an AIDS Research and Family Care Clinic, an institution which she funds, located in Mombasa, a coastal town in Kenya. A single mother named Anne brought her three-year-old son for medicinal care, and she refused to leave the institution until she got “drugs that you have in the States for your children.” Blake, who had been previously involved in several AIDS campaigns through her musical career background and film career, agreed to pay for the drugs that Anne’s son needed. By so doing this, the Keep a Child Alive idea was cultivated (KCA, 2014). The medications that Anne’s son needed were valued at 12000 dollars a year from New York University AIDS Research Department. It did not take long before word of Blake’s work inspired other artists, film stars, and even medical practitioners. Peter Edge became the first donor and soon after music sensation; Alicia Keys joined the foundation as the Keep a Child Alive Organization (KCA) global Ambassador. In 2003, KCA- Keep a Child Alive foundation was founded officially. The Kenyan clinic that marked Blake`s turning point became a model facility to inspire other facilities in the African continent and the developing third world countries. Keep a Child Alive Foundation focuses on bringing attention of the great AIDS epidemic that threatens and shreds the population of sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of third world developing countries. Keep a Child Alive Foundation`s efforts focus primarily on sub-Saharan Africa since it is the most affected region in the world. The sub-Saharan region of Africa host`s sixty-four percent of all HIV-infected persons. The foundation facilitates access to ARV - Anti-Retroviral Virus- medicines, a wide series of support services which include diagnostic testing, nutritional projects, and training program for health caregivers, counselling and funding AIDS orphanage centers (Hunter, 2003). Sub-Saharan part of Africa is the highly affected area in the world with HIV/AIDS. An estimation places the figure of people living with HIV/AIDS at 22.4 million- a figure close to two-thirds of the total global infection. In 2008, 1.4 million infected people died from HIV/AIDS virus in Africa and 1.9 million more were infected with HIV. Since the start of the spread of the virus, more than 14 million children have either lost both or one parent to AIDS. With prevention, care and treatment measures taking a sluggish pace, it is an expectation that the mortality as a result of AIDS will increase. Women compose 57 percent of the sub-Saharan population of infection. In sub-Saharan Africa juvenile women of age between 15 years to 24 years, are three times more likely to be ill as compared to men. It is factual that the feminized plague that is occurring can be attributed in large part to gender inequality. Women in Africa are largely dependent on men socially, culturally and economically. The notion of feminism and masculinity best explains why women are much vulnerable to HIV infection than men. The social and economic effects of the epidemic are widely visible, in not only medical health sector but also agriculture, human resource, education, transport, industry, and the African economy in general (Essex, 2002). The AIDS pandemic in sub-Sahara threatens to overwhelm whole communities, undoing a century of development progress (Hunter, 2003). Keep a Child Alive core objective is built on the fundamental that each individual has the right to proper health care and all children deserve a bright future. The foundation supports innovative, community organized and led responses that facilitates access to lifesaving medical treatment and post diagnostic care, nutrition assistance in terms of food supplies, and affectionate support for families and children living with HIV and affected with HIV in South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, India, Ethiopia, Mali, and Zimbabwe. Keep a Child Alive provides more assistance than just medical support necessary for fighting HIV. The foundation provides essential medical facilities, nutritious food, and affection required to help affected communities thrive. The foundation`s slogan for driving campaigns states ‘A hot meal. A bed. A roof. A ride. A smile’. With a distinctive small operational structure, the organization is small and flexible allowing them to reach far inaccessible community areas where help is needed to facilitate and support community driven projects. The team moves boldly and responds urgently to emergencies raising awareness and rallying resources to ensure communities, families, and children live with hope for a better future (Essex, 2002) . Funding Keep a Child Alive foundation funding is mainly through donation by citizens all over the globe believing the drive to make the world a better place. The donations are usually rallied through campaigns. The campaigns spearheaded by Keep a Child Alive are: Spirit of a child: the first major campaign which engaged the public through initial advertisements and media campaigns. The campaigns role was to reinvent people’s view on the issue. I am African: the fundraiser campaign concept was to reflect the idea of the importance of Africa as the mother continent of humanity. The other drives which are used to raise funds to facilitate Keep a Child Alive include Buy Life campaign, Digital Death and Become a Drug Dealer campaign. Corporate partners, foundations, and major individual donors constitute the highest portion of Keep a Child Alive funding to cover administrative and management costs. Some of the corporate entities include Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Time Warner Cable, Donna Karan, and Maybelline. One of the nations where Keep a Child Alive impact is significant is Kenya. Being a country where the rates of new infections is relatively high, Keep a Child Alive plays a crucial role in spearheading the fight against HIV/AIDS. In a society dominated by cultural laws enrooting for superiority of men over women, creating a male dominated society. The gender inequality that defines the Kenyan society- lowering women`s social status- creates an atmosphere where women do not play key roles in the leadership. The inequality propagates the masculinity of the national culture as male driven nation. Among the reasons that led to the inception Keep a Child Alive foundation was the human desire of Leigh Blake to give back to the community. Blake being an accomplished and celebrated music star used her position as an artist to inspire others to join in the cause for changing the world and making a difference. The key drive at the time was bridging the gap between health care providers and HIV/AIDS infected children in Kenya. References Essex, M. E. (2002). AIDS in Africa. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. Hunter, S. S. (2003). Black death: AIDS in Africa. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. KCA. – Keep a Child Alive. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://keepachildalive.org/ Keep a Child Alive Blog. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://blog.keepachildalive.org/ Read More