2 million kids in Africa HIV positive

Kruko · Silver Member Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Posts: 210

More than 2 million children under the age of 15 are living with HIV, almost all in sub-Saharan Africa where there is no access to treatment and death almost certain. Less than 5 percent of HIV-positive children have access to the pediatric AIDS treatment they desperately need, the report said.
Last year, world leaders at the U.N. summit and leaders of the seven richest industrialized nations and Russia pledged to come as close as possible to universal treatment by the end of the decade.
The first step is providing drugs to pregnant women with HIV to prevent mother-to-child transmission (the way 90 percent of children with HIV became infected) and the youngsters with the virus must also be given antibiotics and anti-retroviral drugs. Without treatment, most children with HIV will die before their fifth birthday.

the percentage of girls and young women of childbearing age with HIV is increasing, and therefore the risk of mother-to-child transmission is increasing even though effective and affordable treatments have been available for the past 15 years.
African governments pledged to spend 15 percent of their national budgets on public health systems.

2 million kids in Africa HIV positive

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