530,000 children infected with HIV --- UNICEF
Stories by MUHammaD BELLO with Agency report

UNICEF said that an estimated 530,000 children under 15 were infected with HIV in 2006, mainly through mother-to-child transmission.
In its report on the state of children and HIV/AIDS, UNICEF said without treatment, 50 per cent of the infected infants would die before age two.
The report quoted UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman as urging national governments to urgently rally support and care for children suffering from the pandemic.
It noted that although there were signs of considerable progress in the situation of children living with HIV/AIDS, much more still needed to be done.
The report said high-prevalence countries in Eastern and Southern Africa had achieved breakthroughs in preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV.
In Namibia, it added, the percentage of HIV-infected pregnant women who received anti-retrovirals for preventing HIV transmission to their infants increased from six per cent in 2004 to 29 per cent in 2005.
It said in South Africa, the percentage increased from 22 per cent in 2004 to 30 per cent in 2005.
In spite of these gains, the report said, an unconscionably low percentage of pregnant women with HIV were receiving ARVs.
In 2005, it was estimated that only nine per cent of pregnant women with HIV in low- and middle-income countries were receiving ARVs for preventing transmission to their children .
This, it added, represented an increase from three per cent in 2003 in access to treatment.
The report also noted particular momentum in the provision of treatment to children living with HIV/AIDS, ``a result of improved testing, better health worker skills, lower drug prices and simpler formulations''. It said several countries including Botswana, India, Rwanda, South Africa and Thailand, had been able to scale up HIV treatment of children by integrating it into treatment sites for adults.
``Globally,'' the report said, ``only one in 10 children needing antiretroviral treatment receives it, while only four per cent of children born to HIV-infected mothers receive prophylactic treatment to prevent opportunistic infections that can be fatal.''
It said prices of ARV drugs for children had come down dramatically over the past 12-18 months.
It commended the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS initiative for negotiating a reduction in the cost of paediatric ARVs to less than $0.16 per day, or $60 per year.
The situation, the report added, has helped to spur competition in the development of paediatric formulations and also in the prevention of new infections.
It said prevention responses were displaying renewed attention on the need to focus strategies on adolescents and young people most at risk.
``A higher number of young women are being infected than men, in Cote d’Ivoire and Kenya. For example, there are five infected young women for every infected young man.
``New evidence suggests that declining HIV prevalence in Kenya, urban areas of Cote d’Ivoire, Malawi and Zimbabwe, and in rural areas of Botswana, has resulted from the adoption of safer sexual behaviour by young people,'' it said.
The report further added: ``In more than 70 countries surveyed, testing and use of counselling services increased from roughly 4 million people in 2001 to 16.5 million in 2005, supporting orphans and vulnerable children.
``The disparity between orphans and non-orphans in access to education is being significantly reduced in several countries, partly due to the abolition of school fees.''