wfn.org | EAA - Archbishop Tutu advocates for HIV positive children

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance
> For immediate release
> 20 May 2008

> Tutu advocates for HIV positive children

Holding up a t-shirt proclaiming, "HIV Positive Kids Need Treatment",
Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu highlighted the need to
address the challenges faced in relation to HIV positive children in his
speech to the 61st World Health Assembly today. "Children are dying of
easily preventable diseases", he stated.

Almost 800 children die of AIDS-related illnesses every day. According to
the latest figures from UNAIDS, approximately 2.1 million children under 15
are living with HIV; nearly 90 percent of them live in sub-Saharan Africa.

The lack of accurate diagnostic tests for infants, affordable child-friendly
medicines, and the capacity of health systems to test and treat children,
has meant that nearly a third of HIV-positive infants die by their first
birthday, and half of all children born with HIV die before they are two
years old.

In low and middle income countries, only 30 percent of adults in need of HIV
treatment are receiving it. Yet the figures for children are even worse.
Worldwide only 15 percent of children in need of treatment are receiving it.
This current situation is actually a huge improvement on the past. Increased
advocacy on the issue and dramatic reductions in the price of pediatric
antiretroviral drugs has significantly increased the numbers of children
receiving treatment in the past two years - 70 percent in one year alone.
However UNAIDS executive director Peter Piot, addressing a symposium on
children and HIV and AIDS at the Harvard Medical School in September 2007,
says effective responses have been hampered because ³the impact of AIDS on
children remains under-researched and poorly understood.²

Earlier in the day, Tutu welcomed recent achievements in access to treatment
for children living with HIV and emphasized the continued need for research
and scaling up of testing and treatment for children. ³Companies and
governments need to invest in our future², he stated.

The t-shirt is part of an emphasis of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance¹s
³Keep the Promise² campaign.

For more information:

Briefing paper on ³Keep the Promise: To children living with HIV and AIDS:
http://www.e-alliance.ch/media/media-7295.pdf

Children and AIDS: Second Stocktaking Report:

http://www.unicef.org/aids/files/ChildrenAIDS_SecondStocktakingReport.pdf

Paediatric HIV and treatment of children living with HIV:
www.who.int/hiv/paediatric/en

The Report of the Secretary General for UNGASS (April 2008):
http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2008/20080429_sg_progress_report_en.pdf

For more information contact Sara Speicher, sspeicher@e-alliance.ch,  +44
1524 727 651.

The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance is a broad international network of
churches and Christian organizations cooperating in advocacy on global trade
and HIV and AIDS. The Alliance is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
www.e-alliance.ch

> Sara Speicher
> Communications Consultant
> Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance
> www.e-alliance.ch

> Phone: +44. 1524 727 651
> Fax: +44 1524 727 829
> Email: sspeicher@e-alliance.ch