HIV/AIDS diagnosed in more than 600,000 children each year

Current predictions by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) place the rate of new HIV/AIDS infections to be greater than 600,000 children per year, with the majority in Africa. Spokespeople for UNICEF believe that the rate would be greatly reduced if pregnant infected mothers received anti-retroviral medication during pregnancy, to prevent the cross infection to their unborn children. The majority of babies infected with HIV in the womb die from AIDS within their first year of lif