UNICEF calls for increased treatment to eliminate HIV mother to child transmission

The UN children's agency late on Tuesday called for enrollment of more HIV positive mothers on treatment to eliminate transmission of the virus from mothers to children by 2030.

Aida Girma, a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) official here said infected children and mothers need to be initiated on the life-saving antiretroviral treatment (ART) in order to achieve the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) target of 90-90-90.

The ambitious treatment target aims at achieving viral suppression by 2020 and end the epidemic by 2030.

"To reach this visionary goal after three decades of the most serious epidemic in living memory, countries will need to use the powerful tools available, hold one another accountable for results and make sure that no one is left behind," Girma told participants at a regional HIV meeting.

She said the four-day meeting is critical in advancing the scale down of the transmission of HIV.

Over 100 health experts and officials from 15 African countries are attending the meeting.

"Many countries have achieved high coverage of HIV testing among pregnant women but initiation of the infected women on efficacious ARVs plus retention of those women on care and treatment; continues to pose a major challenge. Worse still is the retention of those women on care and treatment," said Girma.

In Uganda at least 92 percent of HIV positive mothers are receiving ARV's through the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission Option B+ program, while less than 40 percent of the identified HIV infected children have been initiated on treatment, according to UNICEF and Ministry of Health.

The meeting, which ends on Friday, presents an opportunity for the participants to learn from well performing countries and also build capacity of other countries on enhanced monitoring approaches that will help manage the infections. Enditem