AIDS Research Creates Hope and Saves Lives

EGPAF

Ben Banks, Ambassador for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, has spoken at CWA's Convention.

As I read the news of the infant girl in Mississippi who had been ‘functionally cured’ of HIV, it renews my faith and reenergizes my hope that we will one day find a cure for this deadly virus.

In 1981, at the age of two, I was unknowingly infected with HIV through a blood transfusion I received while being treated for another deadly disease—cancer. In the 1980s, virtually nothing was known about pediatric HIV infections. But in the 1990s, scientists made new discoveries in the world of pediatric HIV and pediatric AIDS, and more medications and treatments were made available to children. In the year 2000, we started a new decade and a new century that would see even more dramatic medical advancements within the AIDS community. I am very lucky and blessed to be living at a time when HIV/AIDS scientists and researchers are making breakthroughs by leaps and bounds.

Read more.