New HIV Infections Among Children Reduced By 76% In Ghana

A new report on the Global Plan towards elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive has revealed a marked increase in progress in stopping new infections among children across the Global Plan priority countries in Africa. 

The report outlines that seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa—Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia—had reduced new HIV infections among children by 50 per cent since 2009. Two others—the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe—were also making substantial progress. It highlighted that there were 130,000 fewer new HIV infections among children across the 21 Global Plan priority countries in Africa––a drop of 38 per cent since 2009. 

“The progress in the majority of countries is a strong signal that with focused efforts every child can be born free from HIV,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in a news released send to Savannahnews. “But progress has stalled in some countries with high numbers of new HIV infections. We need to find out why and remove the bottlenecks which are preventing scale-up.” 

With a 76 per cent decline since 2009, Ghana showed the greatest decline in the rate of new infections among children and South Africa showed a 63 per cent decline (24,000 fewer new HIV infections in 2012 than in 2009).

However, the pace of decline in some of the Global Plan priority countries had been slow and in Angola, new HIV infections had even increased. New infections among children in Nigeria––that had the largest number of children acquiring HIV (nearly 60,000 new HIV infections among children in 2012)––remained largely unchanged since 2009. Without urgent action in Nigeria the global target for 2015 might not be reached. 

More pregnant women living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral medicines to prevent HIV from being transmitted to their children and for their own health in 2012 than in 2009, with coverage levels exceeding 75 per cent in many countries. Increased coverage had reduced HIV transmission rates from mother to child in most countries whereas Botswana and South Africa had reduced transmission rates to 5 per cent or below. 

“We have the tools required to reach the Global Plan’s goals, and recent data show that we are moving ever closer to their realization,” said Ambassador Eric P. Goosby, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. “This month, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced, the one millionth baby will be born HIV-free due to PEPFAR’s support. Now, we must all continue working together to see the day when no children are born with HIV, which is within our reach,” he added. 

The report however also reveals that only half of all breastfeeding women living with HIV or their children received antiretroviral medicines to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. It outlines that breastfeeding was critical to ensuring child survival and strongly emphasized the urgent need to provide antiretroviral therapy during the breastfeeding period. 

More than half of the children eligible for treatment in South Africa and Swaziland now have access. Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe had doubled the numbers of children accessing treatment from 2009 to 2012, the release said. 

While the report outlined that the number of children requiring HIV treatment would reduce as new HIV infections decline, urgent steps needed to be taken to improve early diagnosis of HIV in children and ensure timely access to antiretroviral treatment, it added. 

The number of pregnant women living with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy for their own health had increased since 2009. In Botswana, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia, more than 75 per cent of the pregnant women eligible received antiretroviral therapy and more than 50 per cent in Kenya, Lesotho, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe, the released disclosed. 

Meanwhile, the Global Plan towards elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive is an initiative spearheaded by the UNAIDS and the United States Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) which was unveiled in June 2011 at the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS. It has two main targets for 2015: a 90 per cent reduction in the number of children newly infected with HIV and a 50 per cent reduction in the number of AIDS-related maternal deaths. The Plan focuses on the 22* countries which account for 90 per cent of new HIV infections among children. 

This second progress report presents the progress made by the 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and some of the challenges they face in meeting the agreed targets for 2015.