Publications on Children

HIV/AIDS has left virtually no country, rich or poor, untouched. The East Asia region is already witnessing some of the world’s fastest growing HIV epidemics. Children are the missing face of AIDS, and failure to take account of their critical needs – be it prevention, treatment or care – will undermine the region’s chance of reaching Millennium Development Goals.

The aim of this survey is to review and examine progress made since the previous survey, which was conducted in 2000, and the accomplishments made in the implementation of the Plan of Action, A World Fit for Children and the Millennium Development Goals.

An estimated 1,700 children under the age of 15 are infected by HIV around the globe everyday. Many of these are young children, infected at birth by mothers who are unaware of their HIV status. The number continues to rise as more women are infected by partners who adopt high risk behaviours such as injecting drugs, buying sex, and having multiple sexual partners.

On October 20, 2004, 29 representatives from three countries and more than a dozen international and supranational organizations and hospitals attended the Consultation on Accelerating Support for Paediatric HIV Care, Support and Treatment in Thailand and Neighboring Countries within the Context of the 3 x 5 Initiative.

UNICEF and WHO convened a meeting of technical experts to urgently identify ways and mechanisms to overcome the key obstacles to access of appropriate, acceptable, and affordable ARV formulations for children.

South Asia stands out as the region with the second largest number of HIV infections in the world. HIV is now found in every country in South Asia. No longer can any society in the region consider itself immune to the virus.

The United Nations Regional Taskforce on Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV met from 11-13 May 2004 in Bangkok, involving countries from East and South Asia and the Pacific. The meeting aimed to strengthen communication and cooperation among those working on PMTCT in Asia and the Pacific through sharing country experiences and technical updates from global experts.

This particular study therefore seeks to contribute to a greater understanding of how the HIV/AIDS epidemic impacts on children. The conceptual framework is based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed and ratified by Vietnam and almost all other countries in the world. 

Universal education might seem a relatively straightforward goal but it has proven as difficult as any to achieve. Decades after commitments and reaffirmations of those commitments have been made to ensure a quality education for every child, some 121 million children are still denied this right.

UNICEF EAPRO convened the UN Regional Taskforce meeting in Bangkok from 27-29 August 2003 as part of ongoing efforts to support countries to respond strategically and effectively to HIV/AIDS, to share the lessons learned between countries and from clinical trials and programme initiatives, and to meet the Millennium Development Goals, and the Declaration of Commitments arising from the 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS.