When Robin Hood started in the late 1980's, one of our biggest concerns was the alarming number of babies born infected with H.I.V. New York City accounted for 22 percent of infected babies, with the highest rates of infection in the country occurring in Harlem and the South Bronx. With no treatment available, these babies were doomed to short, painful lives. At one of our first board meetings we gathered at the Association to Benefit Children. Each of us held a baby born H.I.V. positive. It is one of the most heartbreaking moments we can recall.

In large part due to medical advances and in some part due to the pioneering work of Robin Hood grant recipients such as the Association to Benefit Children, Incarnation Children's Center and Harlem Hospital, AIDS infections among newborns in New York City has been reduced from 321 in 1990 to five in 2003. Fortunately, those five infected now have a much higher likelihood of living a healthy life due to improved testing, mandated notification, and early intervention.

January 30th's New York Times reports this great news:

U.S. is Close to Eliminating AIDS in Infants, Officials Say
By Marc Santora

AIDS among infants, which only a decade ago took the lives of hundreds of babies a year and left doctors in despair, may be on the verge of being eliminated in the United States, public officials say.

In 1990, as many as 2,000 babies were born infected with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS; now that number has been reduced to a bit more than 200 a year, according to health officials.

To see full article, please visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/nyregion/30aids.html
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