Countries Must Expand Services To Protect Mothers And Children From HIV/AIDS, Global Health Organizations Urge

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Article Date: 06 Mar 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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Countries must address the critical need to scale up services for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV and expand pediatric care for children living with the virus, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, at the conclusion of a global meeting on HIV/AIDS today in Washington, D.C. To achieve this, the organizations urged countries to prioritize PMTCT and pediatric care, support and treatment in their grant proposals for Round 8 of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which started accepting applications this week.

Pamela W. Barnes, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Jimmy Kolker, Chief of the HIV Section of UNICEF, and Kevin De Cock, the Director of the Department of HIV of the WHO, focused on the issue of scaling up services at the semi-annual Expanded Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on Prevention of HIV Infection Among Pregnant Women, Mothers and their Children. The meeting was co-hosted by the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and UNICEF, and held at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., from March 3 to 5.

"The Global Fund is a critically important resource for countries to expand PMTCT services and pediatric care, two areas where the global response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic is lagging," said Barnes.

The Global Fund is a partnership among governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities to address the issues of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. To date, it has committed US$ 10.1 billion in 136 countries to support the fight against all three diseases, which kill more than 6 million people each year.

Women make up half of all new HIV infections in the world, and 90 per cent of all new infections in children are the result of mother-to-child transmission. Although many countries are implementing PMTCT programs, there is currently a large global inequity regarding PMTCT and pediatric HIV treatment. In high-income countries, widespread PMTCT services have reduced the number of infants born with HIV to less than 2 per cent. But in low- and middle-income countries, as many as nine in ten HIV-positive pregnant women do not receive the medicines they need to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies. As a result, more than 1,100 children still acquire HIV every day. Without treatment, 50 percent of them will die by age two. While children represent almost 17 per cent of all new infections, only 11 per cent of children around the world in need of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment currently receive it.

This week's IATT meeting brought together representatives of the 20 IATT partner agencies from around the world to produce an action plan for the scale-up of prevention, care, support and treatment services for women and children in the battle against HIV/AIDS. IATT members identified critical next steps to increase support for country-level action, including maximizing funding opportunities to reach more pregnant women, mothers and children.

"An AIDS-free generation is no longer an imagined ideal - it can be a reality," Kolker said. "We know what works to prevent HIV transmission from mothers to children. Governments and donors must act now to scale up PMTCT services."

The three organizations strongly urged countries to take advantage of available funding through mechanisms such as the Global Fund and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to scale up services for PMTCT and pediatric AIDS treatment. Through reauthorization of PEPFAR, the U.S. government is poised to provide more assistance to countries in halting the spread of pediatric AIDS. In legislation currently being considered, PEPFAR has identified key targets for expanding the number of women with access to PMTCT services, as well as increasing the number of HIV-positive children on treatment to keep pace with the infection rate.

"We have the scientific tools to prevent most new pediatric infections around the world," said Barnes. "We must now do all that we can to speed these services to the women and children who so desperately need them."

http://www.unicef.org