OVER 51% OF THE ESTIMATED GLOBAL NUMBER OF CHILDREN LIVING WITH HIV ARE IN TWO REGIONS OF EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AND WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA.
Working closely with other partners, this programme involves locating, testing, linking, treating and keeping in life-long care and treatment of children affected by HIV in ten of the highest burden countries (Cameroon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Capitalizing on solid country data analysis, the programme engages the relevant authorities at the district level to ensure a tailored approach that has outsized impact to close the treatment gap among children.
This UNICEF-led project has the goal of an AIDS-free future for all children beginning with the highest burden countries with strategies focused on localized solutions.
Closing the treatment gap for children (0-14 years)
UNICEF projects that globally, between 2018 and 2030, about 1.2 million deaths due to AIDS-related causes will occur among children and adolescents (0-19 years). Without timely testing and treatment, one third of children with HIV die by the age of one and half before their second birthday. The treatment ‘gap’ between adults and children accessing antiretroviral treatment (ART) is currently the largest it has been since 2010. In 2017, 52% of children (aged 0–14) living with HIV were accessing ART compared with 59 per cent of adults (aged 15 and older). The need to close this gap is a matter of equity and social justice, as well as of saving children’s lives. Reaching children living with HIV, ensuring they reach adolescence, and providing a continuum of care is essential to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 and to achieving zero AIDS-related deaths. Please click on the image below to download a pdf with more details.
For more information about this opportunity or others, please contact partner@unaids.org.