In 2001, the UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS

In 2001, the UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS set a 2010 target of reaching at least 80% of pregnant women in need of PMTCT (prevention of mother to child transmission) services through a dose of antiretroviral treatment (ART) drugs. In 2005 UNICEF gave a call for action -- Unite for Children, United against AIDS -- and set goals in four areas:

• provide PMTCT coverage to 80% of women who need it;
• provide ART, cotrimoxazole (a cheap antibiotic that improves the survival of children with HIV), or both, to 80% of children who need it;
• reduce the percentage of young people living with HIV by 25% globally,
• ensure that support services reach 80% of children affected by HIV/AIDS who are most in need of these services.

This status report, Children and AIDS: Second Stock Taking Report: Actions and Progress, UNICEF, April 2008, based on investigations in 13 countries (including India) by a team led by WHO and UNICEF gives a picture of how things have progressed, what the problems are in “scaling up”, and what needs to be done to address these problems.

The report analyses national data on PMTCT coverage in 2004-2006 reported by 108 countries. These 108 countries house 99% of the 1.5 million HIV-positive women in low- and middle-income countries who gave birth in 2006.