Children's lives can be saved if HIV treatment starts earlier

Children's lives can be saved if HIV treatment starts earlier

News release

20 July 2010 | Geneva | Vienna - Efforts worldwide on access to treatment for children with HIV have reached a new milestone, with 355 000 children receiving life-saving HIV treatment at the end of 2009, compared to 276 000 at the end of 2008; but many more lives could be saved if more infants started on medication earlier according to new recommendations from WHO.

Promoting healthier lives for infants and children

"It is encouraging that more children are getting access to HIV treatment, but we have opportunities to do more to promote healthy lives for infants and children,” says Dr Hiroki Nakatani, Assistant Director-General for HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases at WHO.

Until now, very few children under the age of one year have been started on HIV treatment, partly because the testing needed for this group has not been available in many settings. Expanding that availability of diagnostic testing is still often a critical need and WHO is calling for greater access to infant diagnosis starting at four to six weeks after birth. Without diagnosis followed by prompt initiation of treatment, an estimated one-third of HIV-infected infants will die before their first birthday, and about half will die before reaching two years of age.

"With early diagnosis and prompt treatment, children have far better chances of surviving," says Dr Gottfried Hirnschall, WHO Director of HIV/AIDS.