Pediatric AIDS in the Elimination Agenda

The Global Plan for Elimination of Pediatric HIV

In 2011, Ambassador Eric Goosby of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), formally announced a plan for eliminating new HIV infections in children and keeping their mothers alive [1]. The elimination of pediatric HIV agenda, or the Global Plan, calls for decreasing new pediatric infections by 90% and halving maternal deaths from HIV and AIDS by 2015 [1]. This newest call to action strengthens previous global commitments to reduce the number of vertical HIV infections with concomitant decreases in mortality from HIV and AIDS and mortality in children under age 5 [2]. While high-level rhetoric is necessary to mobilize resources, the strategy to end mother-to-child transmission of HIV (eMTCT) has thus far focused primarily on the expansion of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) [1]–[3] with little attention focused on infected children or those missed by current programming. This strategy places at risk a whole generation of children who despite our best efforts are missed by current PMTCT programming and continue to become infected with HIV.