AIDS Undermining Progress in Infant and Child Mortality in Developing World

*)NA(DS PRESS STATEMENT
UNICEF UNDP * UNFPA
f UNESCO * WHO * WORLD BANK
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIO$
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Lisa Jacobs
July 22, 1997 212/880-5325
AIDS UNDERMINING PROGRESS IN INFANT AND CHILD MORTALITY
IN DEVELOPING WORLD
UNICEF "Progress of Nations" Report Draws Attention to Growing Threat
to World's Children
infant and child mortality rates could increase in at least 30 countries hardest hit by the
HIVIAIDS epidemic, according to the annual "Progress of Nations" report released today
by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The report -- an assessment of
countries' progress in areas including child health, nutrition, water and sanitation, and
education -- for the first time this year dedicates it chapter on child health to a
discussion of the HIVIAIDS epidemic.
Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS), today expanded on the chapter he wrote for the report at its launch in
Nairobi, Kenya, one of several launching sites worldwide:
"In 1996 alone, 350,000 children under the.age of 15 died of AIDS, and another 1,000
children will become newly infected with HIV every day," said Dr. Piot. "But we must
not only focus on children infected with HIV -- many more are affected: It is estimated
that by mid-1996, nine million children under the age of fifteen had lost their mothers to
AIDS, and with one half of all new infections occurring among women, millions more
children will become orphaned in the years to come.
"While industrialized nations now talk about HIV as a 'manageable' disease, AIDS
continues to threaten development in many of the most affected regions, including Asia.
It is now projected that the gains made in reducing infant and child mortality will be
reversed by 75 to 100 percent in the hardest hit countries," said Dr. Piot. "Yet of the
$2.6 billion spent on HIV prevention efforts worldwide each year, only 14 percent is
spent in developing countries. We cannot allow the world to divide into 'have' and
'have-not' nations; like all infectious diseases, AIDS will not be defeated anywhere until
it is defeated everywhere.

"We must continue the search for new strategies to fight this disease. UNAIDS is
exploring new methods to prevent perinatal transmission of HIV that are feasible in
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