The Morgan Stanley International Foundation today announced the launch of a new partnership with Save the Children, supporting the charity's work in South Africa to help prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child.
The project will focus on Limpopo, one of the poorest provinces of South Africa, where Save the Children will train 100 health workers and 200 home based carers. They will receive training on counselling, testing, antenatal care and safe delivery. Up to 325,000 children and over 250,000 pregnant mothers could benefit from the project.
"Morgan Stanley has a long history of investing in children's healthcare initiatives," said Walid Chammah, Chairman of Morgan Stanley International. "HIV is the biggest killer of children under the age of five in South Africa, responsible for 57% of all child deaths in the country. We are delighted to be partnering with Save the Children to support this programme, which will make a real difference to the lives of a great number of children and their mothers in South Africa."
The ground breaking programme will provide:
- HIV testing for pregnant mothers;
- Treatment to help prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child; and
- Regular healthcare to help children survive past their fifth birthday.
Julia Zingu, Save the Children Country Director in South Africa, said: "The tragedy is that because health workers are not suitably trained and equipped to perform the relevant tests and administer the correct treatment, mums-to-be are simply not aware they are HIV positive, do not know how they can prevent the virus being passed to their baby, and do not know how to access treatment. If their child is born with HIV, they will rarely live past the age of five because their immune system is too weak.
"What's shocking is that there is a simple treatment that's easily available that can prevent mother-to-child transmission: a medicine called nevirapine. Although many babies are given this treatment, health workers aren't making sure that pregnant women who tested positive are receiving it too. Save the Children wants to take this chance, thanks to Morgan Stanley's support, to demonstrate to the government that by training community members and health workers we can target the poorest 10% of the population. There's absolutely no doubt about that this work will save South Africa's most vulnerable children from a preventable death sentence."
-ENDS-
For more information please contact:
Morgan Stanley
Tom Walton, +44 20 7425 5658, Tom.Walton@morganstanley.com
Save The Children
Fiona Ferguson, +44 20 7012 6863, F.Ferguson@savethechildren.org.uk
Save the Children
Save the Children has been working in South Africa for more than 20 years, helping local communities care for and protect orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV and AIDS, and children living in poverty in two of the country's poorest provinces, Free State (Thabo Mofutsanyana district) and Limpopo (Vhembe district). In the last year more than 51,000 children have benefited from Save the Children's work through food support, registration for child support grants and school uniforms.
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 1,200 offices in 36 countries. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com
Morgan Stanley in South Africa
Morgan Stanley was the first global investment bank to open an office in South Africa after the lifting of sanctions in April 1994. Since then, Morgan Stanley has advised clients on mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, equity and debt capital raisings and black economic empowerment transactions, spanning all major sectors of the South African economy.
Morgan Stanley is also a partner with Rand Merchant Bank in RMB Morgan Stanley, an equity securities joint venture in South Africa. It provides sales and trading services in relation to JSE-traded equity and equity-linked securities, published research on selected South African companies, and distributes Morgan Stanley's global equity research in South Africa.
The Morgan Stanley International Foundation
The Morgan Stanley International Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Morgan Stanley in EMEA, making contributions to charitable and non profit organisations focused on children's health and education across Europe, the Middle East and Africa where Morgan Stanley has a presence. The Foundation focuses on supporting young people from ages 0-18 and strives to ensure that more children have access to quality healthcare, thus enabling them to have a more meaningful life. For children's healthcare, the Foundation looks to invest in innovations and development, working with charitable organisations, hospitals and community based initiatives.