Paediatric treatment and care
HIV infection is a major threat to child survival and development in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), where 47 percent of the world’s HIV-positive children live. Despite political and financial commitments, the annual number of new infections continues to outpace the annual increase in the number of people receiving treatment, and paediatric treatment is particularly lagging behind. Without treatment, around half of all children born with HIV will die before reaching their second birthday. In 2010, out of the 1.09 million children who needed antiretroviral therapy in ESA, only 29 percent received it. The lack of treatment has a direct effect on overall child mortality rates. In high-burden countries in Southern Africa, such as Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, HIV contributes to between 10 and 28 percent of all deaths among children under five years of age.
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