New York: Globally, only 52% of children living with HIV are on life-saving treatment, far behind adults where 76% are receiving antiretrovirals, according to the data that has just been released in the UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2022.
 
Concerned by the stalling of progress for children, and the widening gap between children and adults, UNAIDS, UNICEF, WHO and partners have brought together a global alliance to ensure that no child living with HIV is denied treatment by the end of the decade and to prevent new infant HIV infections.
 
The new Global Alliance for Ending AIDS in Children by 2030 was announced by leading figures at the International AIDS Conference taking place in Montreal, Canada from July 29 until August 2.


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In addition to the United Nations agencies, the alliance includes civil society movements, including the Global Network of People living with HIV, national governments in the most affected countries, and international partners, including PEPFAR and the Global Fund. Twelve countries have joined the alliance in the first phase: Angola, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
 
“The wide gap in treatment coverage between children and adults is an outrage,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima in a press release on Monday. 
 
“Through this alliance, we will channel that outrage into action. By bringing together new improved medicines, new political commitment, and the determined activism of communities, we can be the generation who end AIDS in children. We can win this – but we can only win together,” Byanyima added.
 
Consultations by the alliance have identified four pillars for collective action:

  • Closing the treatment gap for pregnant and breastfeeding adolescent girls and women living with HIV and optimizing continuity of treatment;

  • Preventing and detecting new HIV infections among pregnant and breastfeeding adolescent girls and women;

  • Accessible testing, optimized treatment, and comprehensive care for infants, children, and adolescents exposed to and living with HIV;

  • Addressing rights, gender equality, and the social and structural barriers that hinder access to services. 

The alliance will run for the next eight years until 2030.
 

(WAH)

Artikel ini bersumber dari www.medcom.id.