鈥淲E TOOK our eye off the ball, and as a result we鈥檙e not dealing with HIV transmission from mothers to children,鈥� says Charlie Gilks of the World 午夜福利1000集合 Organization.
According to a WHO report released on Tuesday, around 2.3 million children are thought to have HIV. Some 90 per cent of them acquired the virus from their mother, a mode of infection that Gilks says the WHO has mostly ignored.
鈥淢other-to-child transmission is a mode of infection the WHO has mostly ignored鈥�
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There has, despite this, been an overall improvement in global HIV treatment. The report says that 1.3 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are now being treated 鈥� a tenfold increase from three years ago.
Intravenous drug users in eastern Europe are also being overlooked, says Gilks. The WHO estimates that around 3 million drug users in the region have HIV, fewer than 10 per cent of whom are being treated. 鈥淭he problem is persuading governments to treat these people as health priorities rather than just as criminals,鈥� he says.
