Ministers Meet to Discuss Global Plan to Eliminate New HIV Infections Among Children

UNAIDS and PEPFAR recently brought together the ministers of health and representatives of the 22 countries with the most new HIV cases among children to discuss progress on the Global Plan towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections among Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive, agreed to at the 2011 U.N. High-Level Meeting on AIDS, according to a UNAIDS press release. Though "great strides have been made in reducing HIV infections among women of reproductive age and expanding access to antiretroviral therapy for pregnant women living with HIV, ... progress is not being scaled up as quickly on meeting the family planning needs of women living with HIV, preventing maternal mortality and ensuring that all children living with HIV have access to antiretroviral therapy," according to UNAIDS. "The meeting was the first annual face-to-face gathering of representatives from the 22 focus countries since the launch of the Global Plan," the press release notes (5/23).