UN agencies and key partners have reached agreement on new regional framework for eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission in Eastern and Southern Africa. The framework seeks to eliminate such transmission by 2015 and ensure that less than five percent of children born to HIV-positive mothers are themselves positive. According to UNICEF, this will require that new infections among young children be reduced by 90 percent compared to 2009.

The framework, endorsed in Nairobi, included UNICEF, the UN Population Fund, UNAIDS, their partners, government representatives from 15 countries, NGOs and donors.

It emphasises the thorough and simultaneous application of all four components of the internationally agreed PMTCT strategy, including the prevention of HIV among women of childbearing age, the prevention of unintended pregnancies by women living with HIV, access to antiretroviral prophylaxis, and the provision of care and treatment. The framework also supports innovative interventions such as the involvement of mentor mothers and community-based support groups.

Participants will work towards the 2015 regional goal by adopting country-specific approaches that build on existing PMTCT services.

According to UNICEF, “In countries with advanced [PMCTC] coverage the focus will be on improving the quality of services and of the ARV drugs administered, as well as on strengthening infant prophylaxis. Single-dose Nevirapine will be replaced by more efficacious ARV regimens.” In countries with middle- and low-level coverage, the focus will be “on reaching the unreached with more effective regimens, quality services, and on strengthening mother and child health services.”

An estimated 130,000 infants in Southern Africa were newly infected in 2009 – a reduction by 32 percent compared to 2004. The decrease has been attributed to scaled-up PMTCT interventions. Nevertheless, many pregnant women, especially in rural areas in Eastern and Southern Africa, remain without access to health centres where these services are available.

“In 2009, still some 370,000 young children were newly infected with HIV, half of them in the 15 most affected countries in our region,” said Elhadj As Sy, UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa. “We now have the leadership at all levels to bring this number down. We know what works and we have more funding than ever before.”