‘A matter of life and death’

Nearly half of HIV positive children in South Africa (under the age of 15) were on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) has said, as it launched its global snapshot on children, HIV and Aids yesterday.

According to the organisation, some 320 children and adolescents died globally every day from Aids-related causes in 2018, or 13 every hour.

The organisation said low access to antiretrovirals, in addition to limited prevention efforts, was a leading cause for these deaths, with only 54% of children aged 0-14 living with HIV in 2018 – or 790 000 children – receiving life-saving ARV treatment.

Even South Africa, which had one of the world’s largest ARV treatment programmes in the world, was failing to bridge the healthcare gap between HIV treatment and prevention for infants and adults and that of children under the age of 15.

According to pandemic fighting NGO Unitaid’s spokesperson Sasya Smith, South Africa, with the largest HIV epidemic in the world, also accounted for about 20% of the people on ARV therapy, the biggest proportion globally.

Yesterday marked the launch of a new state-of-the art HIV treatment regiment which would simplify the process for South Africa’s 4.8 million ARV users.

Despite woeful rate of HIV and Aids related deaths among children globally, Unicef said breakthroughs were being made in the battle against the diseases.

“The world is on the cusp of making great gains in the battle against HIV and Aids, but we must not rest on the laurels of progress made,” said Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore.

“Neglecting testing and treatment initiatives for children and adolescents is a matter of life and death, and for them we must choose life.”

The world is on the cusp of making great gains in the battle against HIV and Aids.