Edited News | UNITED NATIONS
Ahead of the Africa launch of the “Global Alliance to end Aids in children” on 1 February in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, UNAIDS warned today of a “forgotten generation of children” grappling with HIV that are not receiving any treatment. Worldwide 1.7 million children are living with HIV.
“Last year alone 160, 000 children were infected with HIV”, said Charlotte Sector, Spokesperson for UNAIDS at a press briefing at the United Nations in Geneva. “So, what is happening that 12 countries are coming together in Africa because 6 countries in sub-Saharan Africa represent 50% of those new infections. And therefore, there is a global alliance coming together to try and put an end to that.”
The “Global Alliance to end Aids in children”, has been launched by UNAIDS, UNICEF and WHO and partners in August 2022 and aims to ensure that every child living with HIV is found and receiving life-saving treatment by the end of the decade but also to prevent new HIV infections among infants and children.
While three quarters of adults living with HIV globally are on treatment, only half of children are.
According to Ms. Sector, “it is mostly trying to stop vertical transmission. Now what is vertical transmission? It’s the mother passing on HIV during pregnancy, during delivery or during breast feeding because most of those transmissions are taking place during breastfeeding”.
Only 52% of children living with HIV are on life-saving treatment versus 76 % of adults. Almost 60% of children not on treatment are between 5-14 years.
“There is a big push to get people, adults, on treatment, because the idea is: you cannot transmit the virus if you give treatment to adults”, said UNAIDS spokesperson. “So, what happens is leaders’ realization that we have forgotten all these children, and there is a forgotten generation of children. So now, there has been a scramble to close that faucet, if I may say, of getting to the children before they are even born or after they are born”.
Twelve countries with high HIV vertical transmission have joined the alliance in the first phase: Angola, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“In the case of Nigeria where vertical transmission is almost 25%, there was a lack of test kits, it’s as simple as that. Lack of HIV test kits”, said Charlotte Sector. “Also, many women because it’s a very large country, are giving birth not in clinics. So how do you find those women? So, it’s a question of putting together, and they are doing this notably in Nigeria, the mapping and they are trying to figure out where are the pregnant women and how can we reach them”.
-ends-
1
1
2
Edited News | UNOG
Violence in Myanmar is spiralling as the military junta increases its attacks on monasteries, schools and camps sheltering people uprooted by the civil war, a top independent human rights investigator warned on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan on Palestinians killed seeking food in Gaza
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Iran-Israel war: UN rights office concerned over strike on Tehran prison, reported espionage arrests
Tehran’s notorious Evin prison known for holding dissidents should not be a target, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday, a day after a reported Israeli strike on the complex.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO
Death and suffering in Gaza are ever-present and the enclave's people now have little choice but to risk their lives to fetch aid supplies, UN agencies said on Friday. “I met a little boy who was wounded by a tank shell at one of these sites on the final day of me leaving Gaza - I learnt that this little boy had since died of those injuries,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder. “That speaks to both what is happening at these sites and what is not happening when it comes to medical evacuations.”
1
1
1
Edited News | UNCTAD
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched today the World Investment Report 2025. Global foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 11%, marking the second consecutive year of decline and confirming a deepening slowdown in productive capital flows, according to the report.
1
1
1
Edited News
Afghan journalist Zahra Nader fled twice due to Taliban rule, highlighting severe women's rights issues.
1
1
1
Edited News
Gazan photojournalist Motaz Azaiza documents war's impact, gaining global attention but facing personal peril.
1
1
1
Edited News | HRC
As the Iran-Israel crisis continued into a sixth day, the UN deputy human rights chief Nada Al-Nashif called for urgent talks to end the continuing exchanges of missile attacks between Tehran and Tel-Aviv.
2
1
1
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
Heavy fighting in Sudan continues to escalate as a “direct result” of the continued flow of arms into the country meaning that the war is far from over, top independent human rights investigators said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
More Gazans killed trying to get food, healthcare near to ‘full disaster’
Gaza’s health system is at breaking point, overwhelmed time and again by scores of patients killed or injured near aid distribution sites, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
La situation en République démocratique du Congo est aujourd’hui encore plus grave et alarmante, a averti lundi le Haut-Commissaire des Nations Unies aux droits de l’homme Volker Türk.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his global update to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, highlighting key issues and trends, and the human rights situation in some 60 countries.