Ryan Lewis is a successful DJ, musician, and producer and ultimately, a very famous man. However, there was a 25 percent chance when he was born that he would contract HIV. Thankfully, he did not, but other infants with similar risks are not always so fortunate. Such occurrences are part of the reason why, while Ryan Lewis makes music, Ryan Lewis’s mom fights global AIDS.

Ryan Lewis’s Mom Fights Global AIDS

Ryan Lewis’s mother, Julie Lewis, is a 59-year-old, HIV-positive woman. She contracted HIV in 1984 when she received contaminated blood during a blood transfusion after her complicated first pregnancy with her daughter, Teresa. She was not diagnosed until 1990, during which time she gave birth to Laura and Ryan, who were both fortunate enough not to contract her HIV. Julie was only given 3 to 5 years to live.

However, Julie Lewis is still alive and relatively well today thanks to modern medicine. Unsurprisingly, she wanted to do something special to celebrate her life, and her contribution to society became founding the 30/30 Project and, with a little help from Ryan, raising $160,000 to help the project build its first clinic in Malawi. The project would only get bigger from there.

The 30/30 Project

The 30/30 Project is so named because it aims to build 30 clinics and keep them running for 30 years. Of the 18 clinics that have been, or are still, being constructed, 15 of them are in Africa, 1 is in India, and 2 are in Washington.

Such growth was accomplished by partnering with healthcare partners who live in towns, and villages of interest who lack the supplies and/or abilities to build the clinics themselves. Once the partnership had been established, it’s all a matter of designing the building, sending volunteer construction workers to oversee the project and helping the staff the clinic.

For example, one of the targeted areas was Limpopo, South Africa. This rural town has a high unemployment rate, a low education rate and a 19 to 27 percent prenatal HIV rate. The 30/30 Project partnered with the Ndlovu Care Group to construct a clinic there — the two-story, solar-powered building opened in fall of 2017 and features a waiting area, care clinic and laboratory.

30/30 Project Results

Of the 18 clinics that are mentioned on the 30/30 Project website, 13 of them have been completed. Each of these clinics has substantially improved the quality of care that HIV-positive individuals in the community can receive.

For example, the clinic in Limpopo, South Africa serves 7,600 people with HIV as well as provides the Ndlovu Care Group with a place to work on vaccines for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. The clinic in the Bududa District in Uganda serves over 16,000 people. The one in Madhya Pradesh, India cares for 5,000 people. Ultimately, Julie plans to provide 600,000 people with the same high-quality healthcare that allowed her to survive.

The Fight for Progress

As Ryan Lewis’s mom fights global AIDS, clinics are being constructed in developing nations so that HIV-positive people can receive the care they need. At 13 clinics and counting, it is clear that the 30/30 Project has already made a sizable impact in terms of how many people can survive their AIDS diagnosis.

Thanks to the efforts of Julie Lewis and all those who support her, HIV-positive people in these communities can now live long, healthy lives — just like Julie has.

– Cassie Parvaz
Photo: Flickr