Join our Fight Against AIDS
Breaking the Cycle
The AIDS epidemic began over 25 years ago, and the disease continues to prey upon millions of children around the world. Over 2.1 million children are HIV–positive, with more than 400,000 children becoming newly infected with HIV / AIDS each year. This disease affects non–infected children as well—many are left orphaned or grow up in communities overwhelmed by the disease. These children are at increased risk of poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition, disease and early death without proper care and support. As HIV / AIDS continues to take its toll, the disease is also impeding progress in health care, education and quality of life.
UNICEF has placed children center stage in the fight against AIDS with the "Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS" campaign. The global initiative uses the framework of the "4 P's" to identify the most urgent areas:
- Prevention of mother–to–child transmission through testing and treatment of pregnant women;
- Providing pediatric treatment;
- Preventing infection among young people; and
- Protecting and supporting children affected by HIV/AIDS.
UNICEF–supported programs provide care and education for millions of HIV–positive children, as well as those who are orphaned by the disease and those who are living with infected caregivers. UNICEF programs also teach adolescents and young adults about HIV prevention and educate communities about the harmful stigmas surrounding the disease. These stigmas, and the discrimination they produce, remain a considerable barrier to testing, treatment and prevention.
Recent Progress in the Fight Against AIDS
Through these programs, UNICEF and its partners have made significant strides against HIV/AIDS. The number of people receiving antiretroviral therapy in low- and middle-income countries has increased dramatically, from 400,000 in 2003 to more than 4 million last year. The proportion of HIV–positive pregnant women receiving antiretroviral drugs in those countries has grown from 10 percent in 2004 to about 45 percent in 2008. The number of children under age 15 benefiting from these life-prolonging drugs was more than 275,000 in 2008, a 39 percent increase over 2007.
Despite these achievements, the majority of children with HIV and AIDS in need of treatment are still not getting it. UNICEF staff and partners are at the forefront of a global movement to care for the victims of this disease and to halt its devastation—and we will not rest until every child has been reached.
Related HIV / AIDS Links
August 8, 2010
Helping families living with HIV in Angola
UNICEF programs are helping prevent the spread of HIV from pregnant women to their babies in Angola. Through education campaigns and support groups, pregnant women are encouraged to get tested and if positive are provided an ARV drug regimen to protect their unborn babies from the virus.
July 23, 2010
Mother-Baby Pack brings hope in HIV prevention in Lesotho
A simple color-coded take-home box called the "Mother Baby Pack" is helping mothers with HIV protect their unborn babies. UNICEF developed the pack based on a technique pioneered by a local health center in Lesotho. Expectant mothers with limited access to health centers are given pre-measured doses and instructions for medicines to take before, during and after their babies are born to help them maintain a preventative routine.
July 21, 2010
UNICEF report on HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
As thousands of experts from around the world gather at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria, UNICEF is drawing attention to one the most pressing concerns in the struggle against HIV – the marginalization of those affected by the disease, especially children. UNICEF's groundbreaking report shows a heavy social impact on young people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the only region where HIV infection rates remain clearly on the rise.
