InterPress News Service (IPS); Friday, 27 June 1997
Niccolo Sarno

BRUSSELS, Jun 27 (IPS) - By the end of 1997, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) expects 1 million children under the age of 15 years to be infected with the HIV virus which leads to AIDS, over 90 percent of them in developing countries.

The organisers of the annual World AIDS Campaign announced in Brussels on Friday that the theme for 1997 will be 'Children Living In A World With AIDS'. Some 1,000 children are infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus every day, they say.

The annual campaign developed by UNAIDS, which culminates each year on World AIDS Day (1 December) will focus this year on people under the age of 18 years, who account for some 50 percent of the population in several developing countries.

In 1996 alone, 400,000 children under the age of 15 years became infected with HIV, bringing the total in this age group living with the virus at the end of 1996 to 830,000.

World Health Organisation (WHO) experts estimate that, since the start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the late 1970s, some three million children under the age of 15 years have been infected. And of the 1.5 million people who died of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in 1996, 350,000 were children under the age of 15 years.

UNAIDS campaign organisers hope that the 1997 campaign will offer a platform for children to voice their concerns and aspirations in relation to the epidemic, and that it will support the development of appropriate responses.

"It will promote action and policies to prevent HIV transmission and the epidemic's impact on children, their families and their communities."

Forecasts are alarming. The US Bureau of the Census predicts that, if the spread of HIV is not contained, by the year 2010, AIDS may increase infant mortality by as much as 75 percent, and the mortality rate for children under five years could more than double in those regions most affected by the disease.

Young girls are most vulnerable to the impact of HIV/AIDS, especially children who live in poor neighbourhoods or slums areas, as well as refugee and displaced children. Equally at risk are children in institutions and those who are sexually exploited.

UNAIDS stresses that children in developing countries, who are infected with HIV, are more likely to die than infected children in industrialised countries.

In Europe, 80 percent of HIV-positive children survive at least until their third year, and more than 20 percent reach the age of 10 years. But in sub-Saharan Africa, the region currently most severely affected by AIDS, children have a much poorer survival rate.

In Zambia, nearly 50 percent of HIV-positive children in one study had died by the age of 2 years, while in another study in Uganda 66 percent were dead by the age of 3 years.

AIDS kills children more rapidly in Africa, partly because of the less developed health care systems. Often many basic antibiotics are unavailable. They are also weakened by poor nutrition. Children with HIV are often killed by typical childhood diseases such as diarrhoea and measles, as well as by tuberculosis.

"We have a window of hope between the ages of 5 and 18 years," says Sam Okware, Uganda's Commissioner for Health. If that group can be educated, and if their behaviour can be modulated to minimise the risk, "I think we have a future," he adds.

According to David Kabiswa, AIDS Care Education and Training (ACET) Director in Uganda, a 1992 study showed that 90 percent of Ugandan children surveyed were aware of AIDS and methods of prevention, but only 10 percent reacted accordingly.

"Now, thanks to participatory teaching methods, children in Uganda are changing their behaviour," he told IPS here.

ACET Uganda has made a significant contribution to the reduction of HIV infection through its health education programme and sex education projects, which include training programmes for parents and teachers.

UNAIDS estimates that there are presently over 23 million people worldwide living with HIV, and that in some of the worst affected countries up to 40 percent of women attending ante-natal clinics in urban areas are HIV-positive.

According to WHO, 90 percent of HIV-positive children under the age of 15 years are infected as a result of mother-to-child transmission, either during pregnancy or through breast-feeding.

There is no cure or effective vaccine for HIV/AIDS, but WHO said that recent trials of AIDS treatments based on the anti-viral drug AZT (zidovudine) have given impressive short-term results, prolonging lives and reducing transmission from mother to infant in almost 70 percent of cases.

Nevertheless, this therapy remains inaccessible to the vast majority of people in developing countries, because of its very high price (1,000-1,500 dollars per month in the U.S.), and the need for a complicated nutritious diet and the continuous monitoring of adverse reactions. (END/IPS/NS/JMP/97)

970627
IP970602

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1997. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 1997. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .