Access to Comprehensive Reproductive Health Services Necessary to Reach AIDS-Free Generation, Says U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Goosby

In a Huffington Post "Global Motherhood" opinion piece, Ambassador Eric Goosby, head of the U.S. State Department's Office of Global Health Diplomacy and the U.S. global AIDS coordinator, and UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé discuss progress (.pdf) made on the "Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive" (Global Plan). "During the first three years of implementing the Global Plan, we have seen a tremendous increase in the percentage of women in the priority countries receiving [antiretroviral therapy (ART)] for their own health as part of [prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT)] programs," they write, noting, "Another important achievement of the Global Plan has been the adoption of task-shifting policies allowing nurses to initiate ART for eligible pregnant women."