14 DAY TRIAL // With one child dying of AIDS and another becoming infected with HIV every minute, the United Nations and its partners today launched a global campaign to support the millions of children affected by HIV/AIDS. The campaign aims to eradicate the "disgrace" that sees fewer than five per cent of HIV-positive youngsters receiving treatment.
"Nearly 25 years into the pandemic, help is reaching less than 10 per cent of the children affected by HIV/AIDS, leaving too many children to grow up alone, grow up too fast or not grow up at all," Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, noting that millions of children who have lost parents to the disease go without support.
Launching the global campaign - Unite for Children, Unite Against AIDS - at UN Headquarters in New York, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) noted that, also every minute, four young people aged 15-24 become infected with HIV.
In addition, an estimated 15 million children have lost at least one parent because of AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa, where the impact is greatest, coping systems are stretched to the limit.
The campaign targets measurable progress for children, based on internationally agreed goals in four key result areas:
- Prevention of mother-to-child transmission: The campaign aims, by 2010, to provide 80 per cent of women in need with services to prevent transmission to their babies. Less than 10 per cent now have access to these services.
- Pediatric treatment: Less than five cent of HIV-positive children in need of treatment receive it, and only one percent born to infected mothers have access to cotrimoxazole, a low-cost antibiotic that can nearly halve child deaths from AIDS by fighting off deadly infections. The campaign aims, by 2010, to provide antiretroviral treatment and/or cotrimoxazole to 80 per cent of children in need.
- Prevention: Adolescents and young people aged 15-24 account for about half of all new HIV infections, but the vast majority have no access to the information, skills and services needed to be protected. The campaign aims to reduce the number of people infected with HIV by 25 per cent, in line with agreed international goals.
- Protection and support of children affected by AIDS: By 2010, it is estimated that there will be 18 million children who have lost at least one parent to AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa alone.
"In the past quarter-century, HIV/AIDS has claimed the lives of more than 20 million people and lowered average life expectancy in the hardest-hit countries by as much as 30 years," UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said. "A whole generation has never known a world free of HIV and AIDS, yet the magnitude of the problem dwarfs the scale of the response so far."