An estimated 15% of babies born in Lesotho become infected with HIV each year, the Lesotho government and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) said on Wednesday.
Unicef and the government released a mid-term review on Wednesday of their programme of cooperation for 2002 to 2007. The review notes that a baby born to an HIV-positive mother has a 25% to 35% chance of becoming infected during birth or through breast-feeding.
”Between 5 000 and 7 000 children born every year … are infected with HIV, the majority through mother-to-child-transmission,” reads the report.
The report notes an increasing number of abandoned and institutionalised children in Lesotho.
”Many of the newly born children found abandoned initially test positive for HIV/Aids, an indication that there is inadequate information on prevention of mother-to-child transmission or parents are reluctant to avail themselves for the services that are available to prevent mother-to-child transmission.”
The review estimates the number of Aids orphans in Lesotho under the age of 18 at 90 000.
The report says the country’s future depends on the under-18s.
Lesotho had declining levels of child mortality in the 1980s and early 1990s due to successful primary health care.
”However, this decline was reversed in the late 1990s and 2000 due to many factors such as HIV/Aids, declining funding of interventions such as immunisation, control of diarrhoea diseases and nutrition interventions. Currently one in 10 children born every year dies before their fifth birthday,” reads the review. — Sapa