Worldwide, the number of children under five who get HIV has fallen by 50 per cent. From 320,000 a year in 2010 to 160,000 in 2021, according to figures from UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. This is mainly due to a global effort from 2011 to eradicate new HIV infections among children and mothers. It is about getting infected women into treatment, so that children are not infected through breastfeeding. Since 2010, the number of women receiving treatment for HIV has almost doubled in the period. – When people knew it was possible to get treatment, it became valuable to be tested, says Shaffiq Essajee, who is a trained pediatrician specializing in HIV and a senior adviser at UNICEF. Worldwide, 38.4 million people live with HIV, and 2.7 million of them are under the age of 19. Together against HIV HIV can be transmitted from mother to child either during pregnancy, birth or during breastfeeding. Therefore, treatment of pregnant women is a good place to stop the infection. The risk of infection through breastfeeding from mother to child is 30 per cent. – I was involved when we started efforts against mother-to-child transmission of HIV in 2011, says Shaffiq Essajee and explains that the first step was testing the women, and when the women are diagnosed with HIV, treatment must be started. International organizations such as the World Health Organization WHO, Unicef, the UN, local civil society organizations and governments joined forces in 2011 to support medical treatment and improve testing opportunities. This happened, among other things, by pressuring the pharmaceutical industry, so that medicine is made at affordable prices for poor countries. In that process, it is also crucial that the countries that have problems with HIV also commit to purchasing medicine. – But most important are the people living with HIV, says Shaffiq Essajee. They can create awareness about the disease, help stop stigmatization and discrimination, he says. Because the possibility of testing and treatment is of no importance if the population does not want to use the offer because of prejudices about HIV and AIDS, he explains. If citizens do not express the need for treatment, then local politicians do not become engaged in raising efforts to combat the spread of the disease. Therefore, cooperation with local civil society organisations, authorities and those infected plays a major role. It is a coordinated effort that has made it possible to significantly reduce the amount of HIV in children. Nevertheless, the HIV epidemic is still a threat to public health. HIV is not only a thing of the past – People think that HIV is a thing of the past, but it is not, says Shaffiq Essajee. Every day in 2021, 850 children and young people were infected with HIV and around 300 children and young people died every day from HIV and AIDS-related causes, often because they were not receiving treatment. This means that over 100,000 children and young people still die from HIV every year, and that over 300,000 children and young people are diagnosed every year. In the countries south of the Sahara, the situation is worst. In 2021, four out of five HIV infections were among children in those countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania. But despite the fact that there are still large numbers of infections among children and young people, Shaffiq Essajee believes that it is possible to get control of the HIV epidemic before the year 2030. – Perhaps it is not possible to end HIV infections. But we can certainly put an end to HIV as a threat to public health, he says. But it requires the international community to join in prioritizing paying for the effort. – We are close, but without further progress we will fail, he emphasizes. – In 2030 it will be 50 years since the first cases of HIV were described, says Shaffiq Essajee. – We have no other choice.
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HIV infections in children have halved in ten years: – It is time to put an end to HIV as a threat to public health
