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UNAIDS Head Puts the Spotlight on Children and Teens
By Adrianne Appel
BOSTON, Sep 30 (IPS) - The executive director of the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is urging action as
concerns the transmission of HIV to children through sexual abuse, incest and
early teenage sex.
Many outreach programmes target HIV-positive pregnant women
and young children, and progress is being made in this arena, Peter Piot told
IPS during a recent conference at Harvard Medical School in the eastern U.S. city
of Boston.
But, "There is more than mother-to-child transmission,
much more. This is neglected and is even a cover up."
"We should not put our heads in the sand…We must
prevent new HIV infections."
Lack of attention to these difficulties especially affects
girls and women, who now account for nearly half of those infected with HIV,
about 48 percent. In 2006, an estimated 17.7 million women worldwide had HIV,
according to the 2006 World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNAIDS annual AIDS
Epidemic Update.
Females are more likely to be abused and engage in unwanted
sex due to gender inequality in education, property rights and sexual
relationships, Piot said. "Girls are so much more vulnerable to HIV.''
More and more women are being infected with HIV worldwide,
causing a "feminisation" of the pandemic, he added, noting that this
was especially true in Africa, where nearly 60 percent of those with HIV are
women, compared to about 50 percent worldwide.
In sub-Saharan Africa, about 75 percent of people 15-24
years old with HIV are female, according to a 2007 WHO report.
Nations need to have public debates about sensitive subjects
such as the need for sex education and respect for girls -- and should broadly
distribute condoms and HIV prevention materials, Piot noted.
"A major way that a child gets HIV is through sex
abuse, between a young girl and an older man, and sex between adolescents, and
incest. We must address this,'' he added.
"Sex abuse exists everywhere in the world. Like
violence against women, sex abuse is a matter of societal norms."
UNAIDS is working with the Global Coalition on Women and
AIDS to call on leaders to enact policies and laws to protect women's rights,
including those concerning adequate education, property and prevention of
violence.
In certain societies, married men are permitted to have
multiple sexual partners; yet because of fear of violence and economic
dependency, a wife may be afraid to ask her husband to wear a condom. The men
catch HIV and bring it home to their wives, according to the Global Coalition.
Females are doubly vulnerable because when exposed to HIV
during sexual intercourse they are more likely to catch it than males. Many
young women become infected as soon as they begin having sex, the Coalition reports.
The lack of sex education and HIV prevention programmes for
girls and teens is part of an overall lack of attention to young adults who are
living with HIV, vulnerable to HIV or have lost a parent due to HIV, Piot
observed further.
Children are growing up HIV-positive, and few initiatives
address their needs for support around treatment, socialising and teen sex, he
said. "It's a new reality and poorly understood."
Young people are often denied access to condoms and
prevention information for political reasons and cultural taboos. Nearly half
of all new infections each year are among young adults, Piot added.
"Sex education in schools is not universal and the
problem cuts across all continents. Yet the U.N. has declared that children
have a right to life-saving information."
Girls who receive sex education tend to delay sexual
activity and practice safe sex, according to the New York-based Alan Guttmacher
Institute: a non-profit that conducts research into sexual and reproductive
health, amongst others.
But in general, there is great ignorance among young people
about HIV, Piot said. "It is stunning to see."
Outreach workers know little about the needs of young adults
with HIV because they have not been included as a separate group in data
gathering, he added. "There is a big difference between a child of 15 who
gets infected and a young woman of 24 -- and a child of five, and a
newborn."
"It is a failure of international organisations and
epidemiologists."
Douglas Webb, a children's AIDS specialist with the Eastern
and Southern Africa office of the United Nations Children's Fund, said at the
Boston conference that certain studies suggest young adults who experience
bereavement through HIV are traumatised by this experience, and seek out
earlier sexual relationships.
A study from Zimbabwe, where a high teenage pregnancy rate
exists, found that girls who have lost their mothers are very vulnerable to
contracting HIV through early sex, he noted further.
In Swaziland, one out of four households is headed by a
child because the parents have died of AIDS, according to UNAIDS.
The stigma against teenagers with HIV can be particularly
harsh, and interfere with school and treatment, said Malawian HIV activist
Noerine Kaleeba, also at the Boston gathering.
Kaleeba cares for 28 HIV-positive children, including three
teenagers on anti-retrovirals.
"They are finding it difficult to adhere to their
schedule (of treatment) because of school,'' where they are teased, she said.
"What can we do for these children, who have to be on
treatment?"
John Williamson of the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund,
an initiative of the United States Agency for International Development, said
the need among all children with HIV is great.
"The reality is that the majority of children with HIV
aren't getting help outside of their extended families."
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