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Global health officials gathered at the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS on Thursday announced a campaign to virtually eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015. Approximately 370,000 babies were born with HIV in 2009, nearly one every minute. Providing HIV-positive mothers with antiretroviral treatment can reduce the risk of an infant being born with the virus to less than 5 percent.
UNAIDS and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which will jointly manage the new campaign, said they will work to reduce mother-to-child transmissions by 90 percent by 2015. UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe described the plan as realistic and achievable. “We believe that by 2015 children everywhere can be born free of HIV and that their mothers can remain healthy,” he said.
Current child HIV prevention funding from all sources totals $500 million. An additional $2.5 billion will be needed by 2015 to achieve the campaign’s target. US Global AIDS Coordinator Eric Goosby announced that the United States, already the biggest funder of the global fight against AIDS, will provide an additional $75 million for the effort.
Most mother-to-child transmissions occur in 22 countries, nearly all of them in Africa. The new campaign will focus on providing pregnant women with more information and more effective treatment, said UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Paul De Lay.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
