Challenges to Achieving an AIDS-Free Generation

In a plenary presentation at the at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle on Wednesday, Dorothy Mbori-Ngacha of UNICEF examined the challenges to reaching the goal of an AIDS-free generation, by "eliminat[ing] 90 percent of HIV infections among children by 2015," and "outlined the four pillars of the achieving that goal," including preventing HIV among women, preventing unintended pregnancies, preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), and supporting HIV-positive women and their families, the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" reports. She called for strengthening family planning programs in the context of PMTCT, prioritizing "pregnant women for access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or microbicides," implementing strategies to initiate and care for women in treatment programs, and intervening early in pregnancy, according to the blog (Lubinski, 3/7).