More Information Needed On The Impact Of AIDS On Children, Says UNAIDS

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 02 Nov 2007 - 4:00 PST

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At the Second Pan-African Forum on Children in Cairo, UNAIDS called for more work to be done in gathering strategic information on children and AIDS. The call came in efforts to increase the understanding of the AIDS epidemic in children and the impact it is having on their lives.

"One of our biggest challenges in the AIDS response for children is the failure to access the key data on children necessary for designing effective programmes. We urgently need to know more about how AIDS affects different children at different stages of childhood so that we can respond better to their needs," said UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director for Programes, Michel Sidibe.

Present at the forum were some 250 experts on children's issues from 53 African countries who had gathered to discuss ways of improving data collection, measurement and monitoring of the AIDS epidemic in children, their families and the communities they live in. Despite the increases in commitment, awareness and funding over the past five years there is still very little known about the AIDS epidemic in children and there is a marked lack of services specifically designed for children living with HIV.

http://www.unaids.org