More than a thousand children infected with HIV each day

Despite progress in preventing HIV transmission from pregnant mothers to their babies, more than a thousand children around the world were infected with the disease each day in 2006, according to a UN report.

Some sub-Saharan African countries, such as Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa and Rwanda managed to greatly increase access to treatment for vulnerable mothers between 2004 and 2005, said the report issued yesterday by the New York-based UN children’s fund.

But 410,000 to 660,000 children under 15 were infected with the disease last year – mostly during or immediately after birth – the report said.

Half of them will die of Aids-related diseases within two years if they do not receive appropriate medical treatment.

And only seven countries around the world are on track to meet the target of providing access to treatment for 80% of women in need by 2010, said Unicef spokesman Patrick McCormick.

These are Argentina, Brazil, Botswana, Jamaica, Russia, Thailand and Ukraine.

Overall, only 9% of HIV-infected pregnant women in middle to low-income countries were receiving anti-retroviral drugs to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission, the report said.