The telecommunication company Etisalat Nigeria is partnering with UNAIDS to help disseminate information about the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Nigeria.

Under the arrangement, Etisalat Nigeria’s 21 million subscribers will receive regular information through SMS text messaging on how to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and where to seek relevant health-care services.

The two-year initiative will support the efforts of Nigeria’s National Agency for the Control of AIDS to increase the number of pregnant women seeking prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV services in the country.

In 2013, Nigeria accounted for 22% of mother-to-child transmission of HIV cases globally. In November 2014, Nigeria unveiled its national operational plan for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV for 2015–2016, which bolsters efforts to stop new infections among children and keep their mothers alive. The plan will help Nigeria to end mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2020.

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Ahead of the African Union Summit, former Presidents of Malawi, Mali, Nigeria and South Africa are among the new Champions committing to Fast-Tracking access to HIV prevention and treatment services in sub-Saharan Africa.

JOHANNESBURG/GABORONE, Botswana, 23 January 2015—Today, the Champions for an AIDS-Free Generation (Champions) announced that four leaders are joining their distinguished ranks.

The new Champions are: Kgalema Motlanthe, former President of South Africa; Joyce Banda, former President of Malawi; Alpha Oumar Konaré, former President of Mali; and Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria.

“We are thrilled to welcome these respected leaders, who have championed the AIDS response in their countries and on the continent,” said Festus Mogae, Chairperson of the Champions. “Now, more than ever, Africa must Fast-Track the AIDS response if we are to end the epidemic by 2030.”

Champions for an AIDS-Free Generation was first launched in 2008 by Festus Mogae, the former President of Botswana. The Champions programme works to ensure that all children are born free from HIV in Africa and that all people have access to quality HIV prevention and treatment services. 

“We have seen tremendous progress in each of our countries and we will continue to work across Africa to ensure that all babies are born free from HIV and that their mothers can remain healthy,” said Speciosa Wandira-Kazibwe, former Vice-President of Uganda. “We welcome the new Champions into the programme, and together we shall support Africa to play its leadership role for an AIDS-free generation.”

“I am very happy to be joining the Champions for an AIDS-Free Generation,” said former President Motlanthe. “We are committed to accelerating our response to the epidemic so that we can end AIDS as a public health threat across the continent by 2030.”

The Champions is a distinguished group of former presidents and influential African leaders committed to an AIDS-free generation. Individually and collectively the Champions rally and support regional leaders towards ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat. The Champions transcend political partisanship to speak freely and independently about the issues that need solutions, both publically and behind the scenes.

“Through the Champions we can harness the wisdom and courage of great leaders who have changed countless lives by breaking the silence about AIDS,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

Since 2009, there has been a 43% decline in new HIV infections among children in the 21 priority countries of the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive in Africa. There were 210 000 [180 000–250 000] new HIV infections among children in sub-Saharan Africa in 2013.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most affected by the AIDS epidemic. In 2013, there were 24.7 million [23.5 million–26.1 million] people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Champions are:

• Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana and Chairperson of the Champions.
• Joyce Banda, former President of Malawi.
• Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique.
• Kenneth Kaunda, former President of Zambia.
• Alpha Oumar Konaré, former President of Mali. 
• Benjamin William Mkapa, former President of the United Republic of Tanzania.
• Kgalema Motlanthe, former President of South Africa.
• Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria.
• Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
• Speciosa Wandira-Kazibwe, former Vice-President of Uganda. 
• Edwin Cameron, Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
• Miriam Were, former Chairperson of the Kenya National AIDS Control Council.

Champions for an AIDS-Free Generation

The Champions for an AIDS-Free Generation is a distinguished group of former presidents and influential African leaders committed to an AIDS-free generation. Individually and collectively, the Champions rally and support regional leaders towards ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat. The Champions transcend political partisanship to speak freely and independently about the issues that need solutions, both publically and behind the scenes. www.aidsfreechampions.org

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

At a ceremony in Abidjan, UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé has honoured the First Lady of Côte d’Ivoire, Dominique Ouattara, for her humanitarian work and her commitment to improving access to paediatric treatment for children living with HIV. 

“Ms. Ouattara’s personal involvement is the clearest sign of her commitment to the most disadvantaged and of her interest in the health of mothers and their children, not only in Côte d’Ivoire but in the whole of Africa,” said Mr Sidibé.

Ms Ouattara is to become a Special Advocate for UNAIDS, helping to raise awareness for programmes aimed at preventing new HIV infections among children and advocating for women and children living with HIV to access antiretroviral therapy.

“This distinction will be a catalyst for my commitment to the elimination of AIDS. From now on, every action to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Côte d’Ivoire, in Africa and in the world will find a favourable echo in me. I am fully engaged in this fight and I will remain committed until we reach an AIDS-free generation,” said Ms Ouattara.

Ms Ouattara has been involved in humanitarian issues for many years. In 1998, she created the Children of Africa Foundation, which has supported several projects in Côte d’Ivoire, including the construction of a school and a centre for unaccompanied children as well as the promotion of child immunization campaigns.

When Angelina Twoki Terso arrived at the Juba Teaching Hospital’s antenatal clinic in 2004, when one month pregnant with her third child, she met with an HIV counsellor but didn’t think there was a need to get tested for HIV. Ms Twoki thought only people who smoked, drank and did things that she considered immoral contracted HIV.

Her first husband had died a few years before and she had never known the cause of his death. She remembers the counsellor telling her that anyone can contract HIV and she should consider getting tested, just to be sure. When the results came back a few hours later and she learned she was HIV-positive, Ms Twoki was in shock.

“I was going to commit suicide,” said Ms Twoki. “I wanted to run to the Nile. I was going to run there and jump in.” But the counsellor explained that she could get treatment at the hospital to keep her healthy and prevent the transmission of the virus to her baby.

She enrolled in the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) programme and returned every month to the hospital for a check-up and to get her medication. She delivered her baby at the hospital and her daughter, Grace, who is now nine years old, is confirmed free of HIV.

Ever since Grace’s birth, Ms Twoki has dedicated her life to helping other women access and adhere to PMTCT services. She visits eight different antenatal clinics in South Sudan’s capital, Juba. “Every day I share my testimony. Most of the women are accepting testing for HIV because they want to know their status. They want to stay healthy for their family and they want to have a healthy baby. It’s very important,” said Ms Twoki.  

The main problem, she said, is that there are not enough sites where PMTCT services are offered in South Sudan. She counsels women who have to walk more than 12 hours to reach Juba to access services and medicines. She says, despite her best efforts to convince them to stick with the programme, dozens drop out owing to the long distance. “They complain. They say they are tired of running here. The place is very far and they don’t have transport,” said Ms Twoki.  

There are only 75 facilities scattered across South Sudan that have integrated PMTCT services. In 2013, an estimated 2600 children were infected with HIV through mother-to-child transmission, and only 2% of children living with HIV had access to life-saving treatment.

Martha Cayad-an, health specialist at UNICEF, stresses the need to scale up access to quality PMTCT services in South Sudan—especially in rural areas, where more than 75% of women live—and to embed such services in a broader range of health services.

“Rather than asking women to go to one place for an HIV test and to another for immunization, health centres must offer integrated services,” said Dr Cayad-an. “When it’s a one-stop shop, the facilities become more user-friendly for women and children and therefore they attract more clients.”

However, scaling up HIV services will require substantial improvements to the country’s health sector, which is plagued by too few sites, too few health workers and a general shortage of resources as a result of decades of war.

Emmanuel Lino, Deputy Director of HIV/AIDS Services at the Ministry of Health in South Sudan, said the government is committed to scaling up integrated maternal and child health-care services.

“Only 22 PMTCT sites in the country provide antiretroviral treatment, but we are hoping that once the resources are available, those stand-alone PMTCT services will eventually be integrated with long-term HIV prevention and treatment, tuberculosis and malaria services,” said Dr Lino.

Dr Lino acknowledges that it will take time, certainly more than what will satisfy the needs of women living with HIV and advocates such as Ms Twoki. But he said the country is trying to lay the foundation for a system that will not just reduce future infections among children but that provides the comprehensive services to keep the nation healthy. 

Results from a major clinical trial released on 17 November provide further evidence that triple antiretroviral medicine combinations are more effective than single-medicine regimens in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Named PROMISE—Promoting Maternal and Infant Survival Everywhere—the trial was conducted in India, Malawi, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The findings show that pregnant women with a CD4 count of 350 cells/mm³ or higher receiving a protease inhibitor containing triple antiretroviral regimen were 70% less likely to transmit HIV to their infants than women receiving a single-medicine regime of zidovudine.

Overall transmission rates, measured at two weeks of age, were low across the study, estimated at 0.5% and 0.6% among the mothers using each of the two triple-medicine regimens studied and 1.8% with the single-medicine regimen.

As expected with multiple medicine regimens, the study also revealed more side-effects in women taking the triple combination. While overall the number of women and babies experiencing side-effects was low, there was a higher incidence of maternal liver toxicity, low-birth weight and preterm deliveries with the triple regimen. According to the researchers, balancing the lower risk of HIV infection being passed from mother to baby with the increased rate of side-effects, the triple antiretroviral combination is the more favourable option.

These results confirm the WHO guidelines for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission and are reassuring for the many developing countries that are changing from single (WHO option A) to triple regimens (WHO option B/B+). UNAIDS supports rigorous research, such as the PROMISE trial, which was designed to inform policy and guidelines to enhance the global response to eliminate HIV infection among children.

Since 2011, UNAIDS and partners have been working with countries to reduce new HIV infections among children and strengthen maternal health through the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children and keeping their mother alive, which covers the 22 countries in which 90% of newborn infections occur. By the end of 2013, the participating countries had already registered a 43% reduction in new HIV infections, and eight have reduced new infections by 50% or more. For the first time, all the 22 countries have now adopted the option B triple medicine regimen for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. 

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The First Ladies of Africa call on governments and communities to ensure that all babies in Africa are born and stay free of HIV.

GENEVA, 26 November 2014—Ahead of World AIDS Day 2014, the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) have launched a campaign to stop new HIV infections among children and ensure that their mothers stay healthy. The campaign was launched in association with the African Broadcast Media Partnership.

“Many countries are giving us hope that we can end the AIDS epidemic on the African continent and around the world,” said the First Lady of the Republic of Chad and President of OAFLA, Hinda Deby Itno. “We must continue to intensify our efforts, as too many children in Africa are born with HIV every day. The prosperity of our continent depends on a healthy generation.”

In recent years, country-led movements in sub-Saharan Africa have resulted in a significant decrease in new HIV infections among children. An estimated 210 000 children in sub-Saharan Africa were newly infected with HIV in 2013 compared to 370 000 in 2009, a decline of 43%.

Coverage of services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in the region reached 68%, up from 56% in 2011. Despite this progress, there is still a need to strengthen community-led HIV responses in order to ensure universal access to life-saving medicines for both mothers and their children, as in 2013 only 22% of children had access to the medicines.

“The First Ladies of Africa have started a powerful movement to ensure that no more babies are born with HIV in Africa,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.” We must fast-track our efforts to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. There is no greater return than investing in the health and development of a nation.”

The First Ladies’ broadcast and social media campaign reinforces the need for strong leadership, shared responsibility and concerted community action to stop new HIV infections among children. The First Ladies’ call for active community involvement, including women living with HIV and their partners, policy-makers and health-care providers, to achieve the targets set out in the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive.

Launched at the 2011 United Nations High-Level Meeting on AIDS, the Global Plan identified 22 priority countries—21 of which are in sub-Saharan Africa—in which to redouble efforts to reduce the number of children born with HIV by 90% by 2015.

The campaign also aims to increase access to antiretroviral therapy for children. As of 2013, Botswana was the only priority country that was providing treatment to more than 80% of children living with HIV, while three other countries reached more than 40% treatment coverage for children under 15 years in 2013.

The campaign will be broadcast over 150 radio stations and more than 100 TV stations across 38 countries in Africa over the next 12 months. It will also be launched on several social media outlets to reach communities beyond the African continent.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners to maximize results for the AIDS response. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

OAFLA

The Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) was established in 2002 as a collective voice for Africa’s most vulnerable people, women and children infected and affected by the HIV pandemic. Since then, OAFLA has transformed itself from a forum of ideas to an institution capable of providing the continent-wide leadership needed to bring about change in peoples’ lives. With its permanent secretariat in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, OAFLA has moved from addressing the symptoms of the HIV crisis to the root causes, poverty and the overall inequality of women in the region. For more information, visit www.oafla.org.

The Government of Namibia has launched a three-year strategic action plan to accelerate nationwide HIV testing and counselling. The action plan, launched on 4 November, was developed by the Ministry of Health and Social Services in consultation with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations Joint Team on AIDS and other development partners.

The main aims of the plan are to improve early detection of HIV and create effective linkages to integrated HIV prevention, treatment and care services in Namibia. It will also focus on strengthening linkages to increase early initiation of treatment, improving testing among key populations and scaling up integration of routine testing in clinics.

“The impact of the HIV testing and counselling strategy depends on linkages to care and treatment services, particularly for people living with HIV. This strategy marks our move from emergency response programming to a more sustainable and evidence-based approach,” said Petrina Haingura, Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services.

Government figures show that around 178 200 people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy in Namibia by the end of 2013. Between 2005 and 2013, Namibia had an estimated 33% reduction in new HIV infections and 8400 fewer AIDS-related deaths. However, most of the people living with HIV in Namibia do not know their status and often come for testing late, preventing timely access to HIV services.

“The new strategy will allow Namibia to move closer to reaching the new UNAIDS 90-90-90 target. Through our continued collaboration, quick response to epidemic changes and creative use of combination interventions we can achieve and AIDS-free generation in Namibia,” said Simon Alogory, CDC Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Namibia.

The Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, was in Namibia for the launch of the plan, where he stressed the importance the new plan would have on achieving the new 90–90–90 targets recently announced by UNAIDS. Achieving the 90–90–90 targets would mean 90% of people living with HIV knowing their HIV status, 90% of people who know their status accessing HIV treatment and 90% of people on HIV treatment having a supressed viral load.

“The 90–90–90 target reinforces everyone’s right to know their HIV status and to access the best possible treatment,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

Besides creating linkages to services, 90–90–90 is an essential entry point to addressing challenging social and structural issues, including equity, stigma and violence against women.

The Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Mark Dybul, was also present at the launch. He said, “Integration is about putting people at the centre of our service delivery. It is about bringing communities together to lift up that adolescent girl.”

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 25 September 2014—The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has appointed leading fashion designer Victoria Beckham as UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador. The announcement was made at a special event held during the 69th United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“I dream of a generation free from HIV and I know that Victoria’s support will help us to achieve this shared goal,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Her creativity, innovation and outreach will amplify our efforts and bring us one important step closer towards ending the AIDS epidemic.”

In her new role as an Ambassador for UNAIDS Mrs Beckham will work towards ensuring that all children are born free from HIV and that children and women who are living with and affected by HIV have access to medicines and care.

“This is the beginning of an important journey for me. As a woman and a mother I have a responsibility to support other women,” said Mrs Beckham. “I am proud and honoured to be working with UNAIDS in this new role to help to raise resources and awareness to support and empower women and children affected by HIV.”

In February this year Ms Beckham visited HIV clinics in Cape Town, South Africa, where she learned about the importance of antiretroviral therapy and about how children are being left behind in accessing treatment.

Antiretroviral therapy can reduce the risk of a mother living with HIV passing the virus to her child to below 5%. However, in 2013, one third of pregnant women living with HIV did not have access to the life-saving medicines and 240 000 children became infected with HIV.

In 2013, less than half of all children who were exposed to HIV were tested for the virus within the optimum three-month period and only 24% had access to life-saving treatment. Without treatment, half of all children born with HIV will die by the age of two and the majority will die by the age of five.

Over the past five years providing access to antiretroviral medicines for pregnant women living with HIV has helped 900 000 children to be born free from HIV. UNAIDS and partners are working to ensure that all children, everywhere are born free from HIV and have access to the medicines, care and support they need.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.