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A generation free of HIV/Aids?

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A report by the U.N. Children’s Fund UNICEF said that more needs to be done to ensure that all women and children get access to proper health care services designed to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission.

According to this Reuters article, the latest UNICEF data revealed that 370,000 children were born with HIV in 2009 alone, and the bulk of them in Africa... the continent that bears (without a doubt) the highest HIV/Aids burden.

"Although it is very rare for a child to be born with HIV in the developed world, there are still a thousand newborns a day infected in Africa," UNICEF's head of HIV and Aids Jimmy Kolker told reporters. "This is something we know how to prevent."

Margaret Chan of the World Health Organization said there is "strong evidence that elimination of mother-to-child transmission is achievable."

"Achieving the goal will require much better prevention among women and mothers in the first place," she added.

In a separate statement UNAIDS director Michel Sidibe said: "Nothing gives me more hope than knowing that an AIDS-free generation is possible in our lifetime."

As we mark World Aids Day, let us know your thoughts...

If we make these changes, could Aids disappear in our lifetime?

 
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