Pediatric AIDS Now An Artifact of History

The world community is making progress in the elimination of new HIV infections among children as countries around the world joined forces toward an ambitious goal in ending pediatric AIDS and keeping mothers alive around the globe.

U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby said pediatric AIDS is now an artifact of history in the United States and Europe.

“Yet in many countries, nearly one baby is born with HIV every minute, despite us having the know-how to prevent it.”

– Mr. Goosby

Mr. Goosby says ensuring that all babies are born HIV-free must be a global priority and not left to a lottery of geography. He said children everywhere deserve a healthy start in life. He added they deserve a mother not just to help bring them into the world but to raise them.

“As we’ve learned from 30 years of struggle, extraordinary things happen when we work together. By uniting around our common humanity and our shared responsibility, we can change not just the course of the epidemic but the course of history for individuals, for families, and communities around the world.”-Mr. Goosby

Mr. Goosby stressed that HIV prevention was not possible everywhere. He added HIV treatment indeed was not impossible. He said the world thought the treatment could not be done in Africa.

“Together we ended pediatric AIDS in the developed world. Today we continue our journey toward building an HIV-free generation everywhere, starting at the beginning with the babies.”-Mr. Goosby

Mr. Goosby cited that the Global Task Team has created a global plan to eliminate new HIV infections among children.

According to Mr. Goosby, the plan focuses on national ownership. There are 22 countries which carry 90 percent of the global MTCT problem. He noted All of them were an integral part of the team. The plan reflects their views.

“Countries must lead, clearly or we will not be successful.”-Mr. Goosby

Mr. Goosby said the world has madee great strides together. He is optimistic that the world can do more with an opportunity to focus on putting a technical assistance strategy together that is responsive to the ministries of health.

Mina Fabulous follows the news, especially what is going on in the US State Department. Mina turns State Department waffle into plain English. Mina Fabulous is the pen name of Carmen Avalino, the NewsBlaze production editor. When she isn’t preparing stories for NewsBlaze writers, she writes stories, but to separate her editing and writing identities, she uses the name given by her family and friends.