First Ministerial Conference of Global Alliance to End Childhood AIDS marks a step forward in action to ensure that all boys and girls with HIV can access to life-saving treatment, and HIV-positive mothers can have HIV-free babies.
Ministers and representatives have launched plans to include making testing available to more pregnant women and linking them to care, as well as finding and caring for babies and children with HIV .
Hope and pain
The international partners set out how they will support them in meeting these goals.
“This meeting has gave me hope” speak Winnie Byanyima, CEO of UNAIDSUnited Nations agency leading the global fight to end the disease.
She added: “One inequality that hurts me is that of children living with HIV, and today’s leaders have made their pledge to the determined action needed to tackle it. that problem.
Die every five minutes
Currently, around the world, a child dies every 5 minutes from AIDS-related causes.
About half of children with HIV, 52%, are receiving life-saving treatment, while 76% of adults are receiving antiretroviral therapy, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).WHO) yes description IS EQUAL TO “https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/02/one of the clearest disparities in response to AIDS.”
Furthermore, although children account for only 4% of people living with HIV, they account for 15% of all AIDS-related deaths.
Commitment and support
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) welcomes the commitment of the leaders and pledges to give full support to the agency.
UNICEF Deputy Director Anurita Bains said every child has the right to a healthy and hopeful future, adding that “we cannot let children continue to be left behind in the global response to HIV and AIDS.”
The Global Coalition to End Childhood AIDS has been disclosure at the AIDS conference in Montréal, Canada, in July 2022.
The outcome of the first ministerial meeting, Dar-es-Salaam Declaration on Action to End Childhood AIDSunanimously approved.
There is no room for complacency
Tanzania’s Vice President, Philip Mpango, called for moving forward together.
“We all have a role to play in ending childhood AIDS,” he said. “Global Alliance is the right direction, and We must not be complacent. The year 2030 is on our doorstep.”
Tanzania is among 12 countries with a high HIV burden that have joined the Alliance in its initial phase.
Other countries are Angola, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Early testing and treatment
Work will focus on four pillars, including early testing and optimal treatment of infants, children and adolescents; as well as closing the gap in the treatment of HIV-infected pregnant and lactating women, to remove transmission for their baby.
Countries will also focus on prevent new HIV infection between pregnant and lactating girls and adolescent women, in addition to addressing rights, gender equality and structural barriers to accessing services.
Progress is possible!
UNAIDS believes that progress can be made as 16 countries and territories have been certified to limit mother-to-child transmission of HIV and/or syphilis.
Although HIV and other infections can be transmitted during pregnancy or breastfeeding, prompt treatment or pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for high-risk mothers can make interrupt this process.
Last year, Botswana became the first African country with a high HIV infection rate confirmed to be on track to eliminate vertical HIV transmission, meaning the country has fewer than 500 new HIV infections in newborns per 100,000 births.
The rate of vertical transmission in Botswana is now 2%, compared with 10% a decade ago.
