NEW YORK– Path2Parenthood (P2P), formerly The American Fertility Association, has kicked off its 2015 HIV & Parenthood Initiative. “Dreams to Reality” is an education and outreach program highlighting medical advances that allow HIV-positive men and women to have genetically-linked children without passing along the virus.
Funded by a generous grant from the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), the initiative was launched last year in Nashville, TN, and Richmond, VA, and in 2015 is being expanded into Memphis, TN and surrounding communities. The outreach effort is a three-pronged campaign promoting patient education, training for healthcare professionals, and support of community organizations.
While the HIV epidemic is still widespread, advancements in drug therapy and treatment are helping people with HIV live longer, healthier lives. Previously, HIV-affected couples had adoption, foster care or in vitro fertilization with third-party eggs and/or sperm as options for achieving parenthood. While all are positive ways to build a family, many men and women longed to have genetically-linked children but did not try, for fear of transmitting HIV to the child.
“The ability to have one’s own children while reducing the fear and risk of transmitting HIV is a profound advancement in family-building for men and women living with the virus,” said Guy Ringler, M.D., reproductive endocrinologist at California Fertility Partners and medical director of the outreach effort. “It is essential for patients with HIV to be informed about available fertility treatment options that can help them have children safely, with minimal risk of transmitting the HIV virus to their sexual partners, reproductive partners or children.”
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention – in a recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine – assert that more than 90 percent of new HIV infections in the United States could be averted if people with HIV were diagnosed and receiving prompt, ongoing care and treatment. Working in the Southern states – where rates of new HIV infections are some of the highest in the country – P2P hopes to encourage HIV testing and drug compliance by offering new hope for building a family and a normal life.
“Preventing new infections is a high priority for the HIV medical community,” said W. David Hardy, M.D., Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and a member of P2P’s HIV Advisory Council. “The goal of having a genetically-linked child motivates HIV-affected persons to take safer sex precautions, to be tested for HIV and to adhere to treatment when the virus is present. Path2Parenthood is a strong ally in both decreasing new HIV infections and bringing new hope for family-building for men and women living with HIV.”
“Path2Parenthood wants to help individuals and couples affected by HIV build their families of choice,” said Ken Mosesian, Executive Director. “Communicating these new family-building options benefits the health interests of the community at large and helps overcome the stigma of HIV.”
Path2Parenthood (www.path2parenthood.org) is an inclusive organization committed to helping people create their unique path to parenthood by providing leading-edge outreach programs and timely educational information. The scope of our work encompasses reproductive and sexual health, infertility prevention and treatment and family-building options, including adoption and third-party solutions. We believe that everyone – regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or HIV status – should be able to have a family, and we offer support for all hopeful parents.
At the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), we believe that AIDS can be beaten. We act on that belief by raising funds for effective programs and policies, and also by speaking out with honesty and compassion about the realities of people’s lives. Sir Elton John created EJAF over twenty years ago, first in the United States in 1992 and then in the United Kingdom in 1993. The two foundations together have raised more than $321 million over the past two decades to combat stigma, prevent infections, provide treatment and services and motivate governments to end AIDS. For more information, please visit www.ejaf.org.
For more information about the “Dreams to Reality” HIV & Parenthood Initiative visit www.path2parenthood.org/hiv.
