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© Lois Craig

HIV/AIDS is having a staggering impact on children. UNAIDS estimates that there are over 2.1 million children under the age of 15 living with HIV/AIDS, the majority of whom were infected by parent-to-child transmission of the virus. In 2008 alone, 430,000 children were newly infected with HIV, 91% of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Still, less than half of HIV-positive, pregnant women worldwide receive treatment to prevent transmission of the virus to their child, and only 38% of children in low- and middle-income countries that are in need of treatment receive it. All told, over 280,000 children die of AIDS each year, and in some countries the epidemic accounts for as many as half of all deaths among children under five. More than 14 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have been orphaned by the epidemic, and millions more are vulnerable because they live in households and communities affected by HIV/AIDS. Orphans and vulnerable children are at an increased risk of HIV infection, are more likely to be malnourished and denied an education, and are less likely to receive the mental and emotional support they need.

What needs to be done?

Comprehensive Prevention of Parent-to-Child Transmission (PPTCT+)

The first step in slowing the pediatric HIV/AIDS epidemic is to take a comprehensive approach to the prevention of HIV transmission from parent to child. This includes preventing primary HIV infection in women of childbearing age; preventing unintended pregnancies in HIV-positive women; preventing HIV transmission from pregnant, HIV-positive women to their children; and providing appropriate treatment, care, and support to HIV-positive mothers and their children and families. Governments, multilateral agencies, service delivery organizations, and pharmaceutical companies must do more to increase coverage of PPTCT+ services from 45% to 80% globally.

Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) and Treatment

In order to improve the survival rates and health outcomes for HIV-positive children, expanded access to early infant diagnosis (EID) and earlier and improved pediatric treatment is desperately needed. EID guidelines must be developed and implemented in order to ensure testing of children within two months of birth and immediate initiation of treatment after a positive diagnosis. Effective policies and monitoring mechanisms must also be put in place to improve the turn-around time for EID results.

Integrated Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC)

Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) need comprehensive care and support. This includes access to education, health care, shelter, food and nutrition, and psychosocial support. OVC also need special protection against abuse, violence, exploitation, discrimination, trafficking, and loss of inheritance. The most effective policies and programs related to OVC focus on supporting children by strengthening families and community-based care. In contrast to many current policies and programs that target individual children, the Joint Learning Initiative on

What is the Global AIDS Alliance doing?

• Working with the Campaign to End Pediatric AIDS (CEPA) to increase coverage rates for PPTCT+ and pediatric treatment services to the globally agreed-upon target of 80%.
• Ensuring effective implementation of US legislation that mandates comprehensive care and support for OVC, which was passed in large part thanks to GAA’s advocacy efforts.
• Securing increased funding for OVC programs in poor countries and ensuring that the US allocates at least 10% of its global HIV/AIDS funding to OVC programs.
• Playing a lead role in efforts to ensure that all children receive a free, quality basic education.
• Leading a Sub-Saharan Safe Schools Initiative that seeks to reduce gender-based violence in schools and school-related settings, including transit to and from schools.

The Campaign to End Pediatric HIV/AIDS (CEPA) is committed to the universal goal of ending pediatric HIV/AIDS by Dec. 31, 2015. But we cannot do it alone. Your help is vital to the efforts of CEPA and the Global AIDS Alliance to scale-up prevention and treatment services for an additional 300,000 children worldwide. Zero new pediatric HIV infections means ending parent-to-child transmission permanently.

To help us get there by year-end 2015, we ask all stakeholders -- individuals, governments, multilaterals and civil society advocates -- to take a leadership position by signing the petition below. You are acknowledging that every child is important, and that all children deserve to live free of HIV. You are acknowledging that the time to seize this opportunity is now, and that we will not let bottlenecks hinder progress to end pediatric HIV/AIDS.

We have the opportunity to change this.