May 20, 2008

Holding up a t-shirt proclaiming, "HIV Positive Kids Need Treatment," Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu highlighted the need to address the challenges faced in relation to HIV positive children in his speech to the 61st World Health Assembly today. "Children are dying of easily preventable diseases," he stated.

Almost 800 children die of AIDS-related illnesses every day. According to the latest figures from UNAIDS, approximately 2.1 million children under 15 are living with HIV; nearly 90 percent of them live in sub-Saharan Africa.

The lack of accurate diagnostic tests for infants, affordable child-friendly medicines, and the capacity of health systems to test and treat children, has meant that nearly a third of HIV-positive infants die by their first birthday, and half of all children born with HIV die before they are two years old.

In low and middle income countries, only 30 percent of adults in need of HIV treatment are receiving it. Yet the figures for children are even worse. Worldwide only 15 percent of children in need of treatment are receiving it. This current situation is actually a huge improvement on the past. Increased advocacy on the issue and dramatic reductions in the price of pediatric antiretroviral drugs has significantly increased the numbers of children receiving treatment in the past two years – 70 percent in one year alone. However UNAIDS executive director Peter Piot, addressing a symposium on children and HIV and AIDS at the Harvard Medical School in September 2007, says effective responses have been hampered because "the impact of AIDS on children remains under-researched and poorly understood."

Earlier in the day, Tutu welcomed recent achievements in access to treatment for children living with HIV and emphasized the continued need for research and scaling up of testing and treatment for children. "Companies and governments need to invest in our future," he stated.

The t-shirt is part of an emphasis of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance's "Keep the Promise" campaign.

For more information: Briefing paper on "Keep the Promise: To children living with HIV and AIDS: http://www.e-alliance.ch/media/media-7295.pdf.

Children and AIDS: Second Stocktaking Report: http://www.unicef.org/aids/files/ChildrenAIDS_SecondStocktakingReport.pdf.

Paediatric HIV and treatment of children living with HIV: http://www.who.int/hiv/paediatric/en/.

The Report of the Secretary General for UNGASS (April 2008): http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2008/20080429_sg_progress_report_en.pdf.

The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance is a broad international network of churches and Christian organizations cooperating in advocacy on global trade and HIV and AIDS. The Alliance is based in Geneva, Switzerland. http://www.e-alliance.ch

Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance