According to the EFE news agency, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia made this pledge at the first ministerial meeting of the Global Alliance to Eradicate AIDS in Children, which took place this Wednesday in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania.
The goal, set last year by UNAIDS, received unanimous support from the 12 countries at the meeting, which was also attended by other United Nations agencies, such as the World Health Organization or Unicef.
"All of us, in our positions, must have a role to play to end AIDS in children; the Global Alliance is the right path and we must not be satisfied; 2030 is already around the corner", said the deputy -President of Tanzania, Philip Mpango.
The first lady of Namibia, Monica Geingos, supported these words and defended a "clear plan of action" to "end AIDS in children once and for all", since "there is no greater priority than this".
The work of these countries, which have high rates of infection with the disease, will focus on carrying out periodic tests and providing better treatment for babies, children and adolescents, with plans to improve the treatment given to pregnant and breastfeeding women who live with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to eliminate hereditary transmission.
According to UNAIDS data, cited by EFE, one child in every five minutes dies from AIDS-related causes.
"This meeting gave me hope," admitted UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, quoted in a statement, in which she added: "With the science we have today, no baby has to be born with HIV or become infected while breastfeeding. and no child living with HIV should go untreated".
