General information on paediatric HIV
Substantial progress has been made in tackling the HIV epidemic yet there are many challenges which remain especially for mothers, infants and young children. Efforts to scale up HIV treatment and care services for children have intensified in recent years however, coverage in low- and middle-income countries remains well below that for adults. Furthermore, very few infants are accessing treatment despite the fact that these are the most vulnerable of all people with HIV.
The more rapid rate of disease progression in children, (median survival is 2 years compared to 11 years in adults) makes it imperative to increase access to early infant diagnosis (EID) and ensure timely initiation of ART in HIV-positive infants and children. It is also essential to recognize the critical link between paediatric prevention and paediatric treatment. With more than 90% of children infected with HIV through mother-to-child transmission (MTCT), scaling up interventions to prevent MTCT is be central to the goal of eliminating new paediatric infections.
Related documents
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Pediatric advocacy toolkit: For improved pediatric HIV diagnosis, care and treatment in high HIV prevalence countries and regions
December 2011 -
Progress report 2011: Global HIV/AIDS response
November 2011 -
Chapter 5 - Scaling up HIV services for women and children
pdf, 774kb
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Children and AIDS: fourth stocktaking report, 2010
UNICEF with WHO, UNAIDS, and UNFPA - Reports on the global HIV/AIDS situation