COMMUNITY PROFILE DENVER-BASED ORGANIZATION FIGHTS TO PROVIDE HIV TREATMENT FOR UGANDAN COMMUNITY STORY BY GILES CLASEN IN UGANDA, WHERE MORE than 1.4 million individuals live with HIV, access to life-saving antiretroviral medications has been severely limited due to the Trump administration’s decision to freeze USAID’s funding to Africa and other parts of the world. Crazy Love Africa is launching a funding drive to purchase and deliver ARV medications to those support in Uganda. The Denver-based nonprofit has been empowering women and children living with HIV in Uganda for more than 10 years by providing micro-business grants, after education and community building. “The number one success of our program is that all of our women are still alive,” said Jess Wiederholt, founder of Crazy Love Africa. “That may seem obvious, but in Uganda, that’s not a given. Without consistent access to medication, people with HIV can’t survive.” The organization currently supports more than 50 women and children in Uganda and has plans to double its reach in the coming months when they complete work on a new community center. Dr. Ategeka Gilbert receives support from Crazy Love Africa and is at the frontline of the crisis. His small clinic serves more than 10,000 adults and 5,000 children living with HIV in and around Ft. Portal in the southwest region of Uganda. He said he is already seeing repercussions of the Trump administration’s policies. “This will take us back to the 1980s when HIV was uncontrolled when people were dying in large numbers. If USAID doesn’t reinstate funding, we will lose many lives,” Gilbert said by phone. Currently, Ft. Portal has some of the highest rates of HIV infection in Uganda, but the disease was spreading at a much higher rate before the arrival of antiretroviral (ARV) medications. This included transmission from mothers to children. In February, the Uganda health ministry announced that the country must close the HIV and TB clinics supported by USAID. The closures are due to funding losses from the USAIDmanaged program President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a program first launched in 2003 by President George W. Bush that has provided free HIV treatment. PEPFAR DR. ATEGEKA GILBERT’S CLINIC SERVES MORE THAN 10,000 ADULTS AND 5,000 CHILDREN LIVING WITH HIV IN AND AROUND FT. PORTAL IN THE SOUTHWEST REGION OF UGANDA | IMAGE COURTESY OF CRAZY LOVE AFRICA they is credited with saving the lives of more than 20 million individuals in Africa. Dr. Sarah Rowan, an HIV and STI treatment and prevention specialist with Denver Health who has spent time treating patients in Africa, warned of the dire consequences if PEPFAR funding is not reinstated. “The modeling is really clear—we will see deaths skyrocket,” said Rowan. A recent UNAIDS report estimates that if PEPFAR is not restored, there will be an additional 6.3 million AIDSrelated deaths in Africa by 2029 – a number larger than the entire population of the state of Colorado. The report also estimates an additional 8.7 million new adult HIV infections and 350,000 new child infections, as HIV is passed from mother to baby. Rowan said that PEPFAR had not yet reached its goals Without continued funding, clinics worldwide could run out of life-saving ARV medications within months. “Right now, we know if people start ARVs before significant immune damage, they will have the same life expectancy as someone who doesn’t have HIV,” Rowan said. “There’s also little to no chance of transmission at all when people have access to medication and can maintain an undetectable viral load.” Perhaps most devastating, Rowan pointed out, is the fate of thousands of babies who will be born with HIV if mothers lose access to ARVs, which prevent the spread of HIV from mother to child. April 2025 DENVER VOICE 5
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