50% new HIV+ children infected through breastfeeding – UNAIDS

Although new HIV infections among children have declined by 51 per cent since 2010, half of the children newly infected with the virus in 2015 were infected through breastfeeding, a UNAIDS report said.

The report, ‘Get on the Fast-track: the life-cycle approach to HIV”, which was launched on Monday in Windhoek, Namibia, by Namibian President Hage Geingob and UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, stated that 150,000 children were newly infected in 2015 and half were infected through breastfeeding.

It noted that globally, access to HIV medicines to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV has increased to 77 per cent in 2015 (up from 50 per cent in 2010).

Nonetheless, it stated that infection through breastfeeding can be avoided if mothers living with HIV are supported to continue taking antiretroviral medicines, allowing them to breastfeed safely and ensure that their children receive the important protective benefits of breast milk.

‘Get on the Fast-track: the life-cycle approach to HIV’ stressed that more efforts are needed to expand HIV testing for pregnant women, expand treatment for children and improve and expand early infant diagnosis by using new diagnostic tools and innovative methods, such as SMS reminders, to retain mothers living with HIV and their babies in care.

The report also encouraged countries to adopt the targets of the Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS Free framework led by UNAIDS and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to reduce the number of new HIV infections among children, adolescents and young women, and ensure lifelong access to antiretroviral therapy if they are living with HIV.

Transition stage

The report stated that many children who were born with HIV and survived are now entering adulthood. Studies from 25 countries in 2015 show that 40 per cent of young people aged between 15 and 19 years became infected through mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

This transition, the report said, is also magnifying another major challenge – high numbers of AIDS-related deaths among adolescents. Adolescents living with HIV have the highest rates of poor medication adherence and treatment failure, it said. It also noted that the ages between 15 and 24 years are an incredibly dangerous time for young women, reporting that in 2015, around 7500 young women became newly infected with HIV every week. It stated that data from studies in six locations within eastern and southern Africa reveal that in three southern Africa girls aged between 15 and 19 years accounted for 90 per cent of all new HIV infections among 10 to 19-year-olds, and more than 74 per cent in eastern Africa.

Globally, it said between 2010 and 2015, the number of new HIV infections among young women aged between 15 and 24 years was reduced by just six per cent from 420 000 to 390,000 and therefore to reach the target of less than 100,000 new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women by 2020 will require a 74 per cent reduction in the four years between 2016 and 2020. It stated that globally, there are 1.8 million children living with HIV in 2015-2016 while 110,000 died from AIDS.

The report outline by June 2016, around 18.2 million people had access to the life-saving medicines, including 910,000 children, double the number five years earlier.

“If these efforts are sustained and increased, the world will be on track to achieve the target of 30 million people on treatment by 2020,” it said.