UNICEF Report Demonstrates Great Progress and Great Need
4/3/2008
Contact: Johanna Diaz
202.371.1999
jdiaz@pedaids.org
Statement of Pamela W. Barnes, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
Today’s report from UNICEF on progress made in the battle against pediatric AIDS is both encouraging and sobering. It reminds us of the great progress we have made in the last few years, and of the enormity of the challenge that remains. Above all, the report demonstrates that the nations of the world, in cooperation with public and private institutions across the globe, can one day turn the tide of the AIDS pandemic. As UNICEF documents, we have made great strides in the last few years in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of the HIV virus and in treating pediatric AIDS patients. And we have tremendous work still ahead.
The report notes, for example, that in low- and middle-income countries, the proportion of HIV-positive pregnant women accessing PMTCT services and receiving antiretroviral prophylaxis more than doubled between 2004 and 2006 – from 10 to 23 percent. While some of that progress results from adjustments to estimates of the number of people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, it is nonetheless both a significant accomplishment and a grim reminder that the great majority of HIV-positive pregnant women in these countries still are not getting the medicine they need to protect their babies. In 2006, more than a million women accessed PMTCT services in programs supported by the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (the Foundation).
Equally sobering is the fact that so few children in affected countries are getting treatment. According to this report, the percentage of children living with AIDS is less than half the infection rate for children. We know that discrepancy exists, in significant part, because 30 percent of children with HIV die in their first year of life; 60 percent die by age three. We must get care and treatment to HIV-positive children in these countries earlier, so they have a chance to live beyond their earliest years.
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is the largest provider of PMTCT services under PEPFAR, working at more than 2,800 sites in 18 countries. Based on the numbers in this report of the total women receiving prophylaxis and children receiving treatment, approximately one in five women in low- and middle-income countries who received medicine to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV did so in one of the programs supported by the Foundation. Similarly, 35 percent of the children receiving treatment were doing so in Foundation supported programs. Our on-the-ground experience has taught us that resources make all the difference. With adequate resources, we can contain, manage and one day defeat this disease; without them, we cannot. It’s that simple.
That is why it is so crucial that the United States continue to ramp up PMTCT services under PEPFAR. The reauthorization bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday provides for such expansion, as does a similar bill that the Senate will consider later this spring. It is vital that Congress reauthorize PEPFAR, and then make good on the reauthorization’s expansion plans by appropriating sufficient funding to do the job.
###
About the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is a worldwide leader in the fight against pediatric AIDS. Its innovative research programs, collaborative training initiatives, advocacy efforts, and rapidly expanding international prevention and treatment programs are bringing dramatic changes to the lives of children worldwide.