NIGERIA reported prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV of less than 25 percent, thus joining six other sub-Saharan Africa countries — Angola, Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia and South Sudan — which also recorded a not-impressive performance between 2011 and 2012.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Saturday tweeted a Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS' (UNAIDS) Regional Fact Sheet for 2012, which observed a decline in new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths across the region.
It noted that coverage of services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa reached 59 percent (53–66percent), with six countries in the region — Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia —achieving PMTCT coverage of more than 75 percent in 2011.
According to the report, there were estimated 1.8million (1.6million–2million] new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 2.4 million [2.2 million–2.5 million] new infections in 2001— a 25 percent decline.
???Between 2005 and 2011, the number of people dying from AIDS-related causes in sub-Saharan Africa declined by 32 percent, from 1.8 million (1.6 million–1.9 million) to 1.2 million (1.1 million–1.3 million).
??On progress recorded in preventing new infections among children between 2009 and 2011, the report noted that the number of children newly infected with HIV in sub- Saharan Africa fell by 24 percent.
In six countries of sub-Saharan Africa (Burundi, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Togo and Zambia), the number of children newly infected with HIV declined by 40percent–59percent between 2009 and 2011. Fourteen additional countries in the region reported declines of 20-39percent.
However, 11 countries in the region saw more modest declines of between one and 19 per cent.
But the number of new HIV infections among children increased in four countries —Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.
