New UNAIDS Report Shows HIV-Positive Mothers Need Care and Treatment

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Calls for Congress to Step Up

Pamela Barnes, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, is calling on Congress to establish targets to give pregnant woman services to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission and to ensure that more of the people receiving care under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) are children. Barnes said, "There's no time to waste. Policy makers should scale up efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and to treat children and families affected by HIV/AIDS."

Barnes remarks come in response to the 2007 AIDS Epidemic Update from the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and World Health Organization (WHO). According to the UNAIDS report, there are 2.5 million children under the age of 15 living with HIV. In 2001, there were 1.5 million kids living with HIV. Approximately 420,000 children were newly infected in 2007.

According to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, 90% of kids with HIV were infected in the womb, at birth, or while breast feeding. This happens despite the existance of life saving medicines that if made more widely available would significantly reduce the likelihood of mother-to-child transmissions. "In the developing world most women still do not get the medicines that would keep them from transmitting HIV to their babies," said Barnes, "That's a terrible failure." Barnes notes that without treatment, half the children will die before their second birthday.

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is working in the countries that are hardest hit to prevent mother-to-child transmission. One of its current initiatives is to increase the support given to HIV infected pregnant women and children under the PEPFAR.