UNICEF New Zealand supports
child survival, protection and development
worldwide through education, advocacy and fundraising.
child survival, protection and development
worldwide through education, advocacy and fundraising.
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We educate communities to remove the stigma of the disease, and we offer HIV prevention education so that women and young people can protect themselves. We are at the forefront of a global movement to halt the devastation of HIV/AIDS and to protect the rights and lives of those affected by the disease. Our support centers offer children who live with sick parents or alone, or who have HIV/AIDS themselves, a safe place to get a meal, learn a trade, and play with other children. And we help orphanages all over the world provide HIV-positive children with proper medical care and a safe home.
Over 2 million children are HIV positive, and 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa alone have been orphaned by AIDS. Left untreated, half of all HIV-infected children will die by the age of two. As the death toll keeps rising, progress in education and healthcare is slowly eroding, and entire communities are in danger of losing their economic and social viability. UNICEF is committed to helping those who are suffering the consequences of HIV/AIDS and to break the cycle of this deadly disease.
Mother-to-child transmission is the main cause of HIV infection in young children-and it is on the rise. UNICEF has implemented programs worldwide to stop the transmission of HIV from mother to child. We test and treat pregnant women so they don't pass on the disease in the first place, and we treat infected babies so they can live full, healthy lives.
On October 25, 2005, UNICEF launched a five-year global campaign, Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS, to raise awareness about how HIV and AIDS are destroying the lives of children.
UNICEF's global campaign has four goals to achieve by 2010.
Prevention of new infections
UNICEF aims to reduce new infections among young people by more than 25 per cent.
Prevention of mother-to child-transmission (PMTCT)
UNICEF aims to increase coverage of PMTCT services from less than 10 per cent to 80 per cent.
Providing treatment for children
UNICEF seeks to increase the availability of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) for children from less than 2 per cent to 80 per cent.
Protection, care and support
UNICEF aims to increase coverage of services for the protection, care and support for children affected by HIV/AIDS from less than 3 per cent to 80 per cent.
UNICEF in ActionUNICEF led the expansion of an innovative HIV test for babies, which can now be conducted when a baby is just six weeks old rather than at 18 months. In Russia, UNICEF supported training programmes have prepared over 500 health care workers in Prevention of Mother-to-Child-Transmission and anti-retroviral treatment of HIV-infected children. In Botswana, UNICEF teamed up with the government to open two prevention-of-parent-to-child-transmission pilot projects where HIV-positive women who are pregnant can get anti-retroviral treatment with medication donated by the pharmaceutical company Glaxo Wellcome. In Kenya, UNICEF supports the Kibera Community Self-Help Programme, in which young people learn about HIV/AIDS through group talks, sports and performances. In the Ndirande Township in Malawi, UNICEF funds a community-based group called Ndirande Churches and Community Home-based Care. The organization has about 300 volunteers from nine local churches and three mosques who look after the township's 3,000 AIDS orphans and care for people dying of AIDS-related illnesses. |
$4 can buy one dose of antiretroviral drugs for an HIV-positive mother or her child.
$20 can buy an HIV test for infants born to HIV-positive mothers.
$207 can provide education, medical care, nutrition and income-generation skills for an orphaned child for one year.
$388 can test 480 children for the HIV1 and HIV2 virus as well as detect various antibodies associated with HIV1/HIV2.
