Global alliance to end HIV in children by 2030 launched
UN agencies UNAIDS, UNICEF, World Health Organisation, and others have formed a global alliance to prevent HIV infections in children by 2030.
The move is in response to a startling disparity between adult and child access to lifesaving treatment.
A new report has shown that while more than three-quarters of all adults living with HIV are receiving some kind of treatment, the number of children doing so, stands at only 52 percent.
The new Global Alliance for Ending AIDS in Children, which also includes civil society groups, governments, and international partners, was announced at the landmark International AIDS Conference, which comes to a close in Montréal, Canada, today.
UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima says by bringing together new improved medicines, new political commitment, and the determined activism of communities, this can be the generation who end AIDS in children.
She says only through collaboration at all levels of society, can holistic solutions be created to effectively prevent further HIV transmission.
Together, stakeholders in the alliance have identified four pillars of collective action including closing the treatment gap among breastfeeding adolescent girls and women living with HIV and optimizing the continuity of treatment.
They also aim to promote accessible testing, optimized treatment, and comprehensive care for infants, children, and adolescents exposed to and living with HIV.
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