Worldwide Support Needed for HIV-Positive Children

November 2, 2005 -- The United Nations has launched a campaign to improve treatment and support of children affected by AIDS. Fewer than 5 percent of HIV-positive children receive treatment and less than 10 percent of kids who have lost parents to AIDS receive government or aid agency support, according to a new UNICEF and UNAIDS report. Every day about 1,400 children under 15 die from AIDS-related illnesses, according to the report. About 15 million children worldwide have lost at least one parent to AIDS.

The campaign, targeted toward policy-makers and government officials, aims to provide antiretroviral drugs and other treatments, prevent pregnant women from transmitting the virus to their children, reduce the number of young people who become infected, and help children who are already affected. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than 85 percent of infected children. The second largest hit area is in South and East Asia.

The National Research Council report, Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries, examines how HIV/AIDS, poverty, and other issues have negatively impacted children in sub-Saharan countries compared with children in other countries. The Institute of Medicine report, Scaling Up Treatment for the Global AIDS Pandemic: Challenges and Opportunities, outlines steps necessary to implement a rapid "scale-up" of antiretroviral therapy initiatives to meet larger needs of resource-poor countries heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS.

• Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries (2005)
• Scaling Up Treatment for the Global AIDS Pandemic: Challenges and Opportunities (2004)

• Unite for Children Against AIDS
• UNAIDS
• UNICEF