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More than 2 million kids live
with HIV
Published in HIV/AIDS News by LearnScapes, issue 295
03/04/2008
Geneva – More than two million children worldwide
were living with HIV in 2007, most of whom were infected
before they were born, said a joint study by United Nations
humanitarian organisations on Thursday.
About 290 000 children under 15 died of Aids last year
and 12.1 million children in sub-Saharan Africa lost one
or both parents to the disease, according to a "Children
and Aids" report by the World Health Organisation,
Unicef and UNAids.
"Today's children and young people have never known
a world free of Aids," said UNicef executive director
Ann Veneman. "Children must be at the heart of the
global Aids agenda," she urged.
The report highlighted four areas crucial to tackling the
pandemic: preventing HIV transmission from mothers to children;
providing paediatric treatment; preventing infection among
adolescents and young people; and protecting and supporting
children affected by Aids.
21 countries now on track
While some progress has been made in all these areas, the
report found that significant challenges remained. For example,
21 countries including Botswana, Brazil, Rwanda, South Africa
and Thailand were now on track to reach 80% coverage to
prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission by 2010, up from
only 11 countries in 2005. The proportion of HIV-positive
pregnant women receiving retroviral drugs to reduce the
risk of transmitting the virus to their children rose by
60% from 2005 to 2006 – although this still meant
that less than a quarter (23%) of all such women got retrovirals.
The report also said the number of HIV-positive children
in low- and middle-income countries getting retrovirals
rose 70% in the same period to 127 000 from 75 000.
Increase in funds
"We must provide antiretroviral treatment for women
who require it... to achieve this, health systems and their
most precious component, the health-care workforce, must
be strengthened," said Kevin DeCock, director of the
WHO's HIV division. The report also welcomed an increase
in funds to tackle the disease, even if funding gaps persisted.
"Governments and donors alike are allocating more resources
to prevention, treatment and protection efforts," it
said. In 2007, about $10bn were available to combat Aids,
up from $6.1bn the previous year.
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