In honour of World AIDS Day, the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge were flooded in red light last night as part of the global (RED) campaign against AIDS proliferation. Headed by U2 frontman Bono, the (RED) campaign aims to highlight the goal of ending mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015, creating the first generation in 30 years of babies born HIV-free, by turning more than 80 iconic landmarks across 13 countries, including Table Mountain in South Africa; the London Eye and the Empire State Building in New York.

HIV/AIDS is preventable and treatable but UN AIDS statistics published last week estimate 370,000 children are infected with the disease in 2009, down from 430,000 in 2008. About 90 per cent of these babies are born in sub-Saharan Africa. Without treatment, as many as half will die by the age of two. [pullquote]About 90 per cent of babies are born in sub-Saharan Africa with HIV/AIDS. Without treatment, as many as half will die by the age of two.[/pullquote]Currently, only 45 per cent of pregnant women have access to the medicine they need to stop transmission, but collectively, prevention measures for pregnant women including HIV screening, antiretroviral medication for those who test positive, treatment during and after labour and infant feeding guidance, have been shown to block mother-to-child transmission in up to 99% of cases and the focus is now on making sure every pregnant woman who needs treatment receives it.

“This is a time of great hope and promise in the battle against AIDS, because we are on the verge of ensuring that virtually no child will come into the world carrying the burden of HIV,” said Susan Smith Ellis, CEO of (RED).

“It is incumbent upon us to maintain pressure on our leaders to fulfill their current promises for funding and to seek out new, innovative models to fill the gap. Our World AIDS Day awareness campaign, ‘The AIDS Free Generation is Due in 2015’ is a reminder to everyone that we must work together to overcome the financial challenges at this critical juncture and to keep the world focused on this issue and this achievable goal,” Ms Smith said.

“With continued funding from governments and organizations like (RED), a world where no child is born with HIV is truly possible by 2015,” said Professor Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund.

“No other area of HIV funding has seen such a direct and rapid correlation between donor investments and live-saving impact as prevention of mother-to-child transmission. If every woman can protect her new-born from HIV infection, we can truly start the first AIDS-Free Generation by 2015,” Professor Kazatchkine said.

A report published by the United Nations this week says that an AIDS-free generation is possible if the world steps up efforts to provide universal access to prevention, treatment and social protection. However the report – Children and AIDS: Fifth Stocktaking Report 201 – warns that attaining this goal depends on reaching the most marginalised members of society, noting that millions of women and children have fallen through the cracks due to inequities rooted in gender, economic status, geographical location, education level and social status.

“To achieve an AIDS-free generation we need to do more to reach the hardest hit communities,” UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Anthony Lake said in New York in launching the report, compiled jointly by his agency, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)) and the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

“Every day, nearly 1,000 babies in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV through mother-to-child transmission. Our Fifth Stocktaking Report on Children and AIDS highlights innovations like the Mother Baby Pack that can bring life-saving ARV (antiretroviral drugs) treatment to more mothers and their babies than ever before.”

In most parts of the world, new HIV infections are steadily falling or stabilising. In 2001, an estimated 5.7 million young people aged 15–24 were living with HIV. At the end of 2009, that number fell to 5 million. However, in nine countries – all of them in southern Africa – at least 1 in 20 young people is living with HIV.

Young women still shoulder the greater burden of infection, and in many countries women face their greatest risk of infection before age 25. Worldwide, more than 60 per cent of all young people living with HIV are female. In sub-Saharan Africa, that figure is nearly 70 per cent.

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