Seven African countries have reduced child HIV infections by half

(Reuters) – Seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa, have cut the number of new HIV infections in children by 50 percent since 2009, the United Nations AIDS program said on Tuesday.

The dramatic reductions – in Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia – mean tens of thousands more babies are now being born free of HIV, UNAIDS said in a report on its Global Plan to tackle the disease in around 20 of the worst affected countries.

Overall, across 21 priority countries in Africa, there were 130,000 fewer new HIV infections among children in 2012 – a drop of 38 percent since 2009 – mostly due to increased drug treatment of pregnant women with the virus.

“The progress in the majority of countries is a strong signal that with focused efforts every child can be born free from HIV,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS’ executive director.

The report said much of the reduction in new HIV cases in children was thanks to more use of AIDS drug treatment for HIV-positive pregnant women. Coverage rates were above 75 percent in many of the priority countries, it said.

AIDS medicines known as antiretroviral therapy not only improve the health of mothers with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, but can also prevent HIV from being transmitted to their children.

Botswana and South Africa have reduced mother to child HIV transmission rates to approximately 5 percent according to UNAIDS.