By Anthony Bugembe

THE reduction of new HIV infections among children should start with the prevention of mother-to-child transmission, the director general of the Uganda AIDS Commission said yesterday.

Dr. Kihumuro Apuuli also observed that about 20,000 new HIV cases every year in Uganda were due to mother-to-child infections.

“We were born in an AIDS-free generation. It is our moral responsibility to ensure that our children and grandchildren are born and remain free from HIV/AIDS,” he said.

Apuuli was addressing delegates during the second annual national paediatric HIV/AIDS conference at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.

The First Lady, Janet Museveni, who opened the conference, noted that despite the increase of access to HIV prevention, care and treatment in the country, the number of children accessing the services remained low.

“Access to care and treatment for children still falls far below that of adults. Out of the 310 active Anti-retroviral (ARV) sites, only 174 provide ARV (drugs) for children,” she said.

“The children also need psycho-social support, which is also limited.”

Mrs. Museveni noted that only 13,000 children under the age of 15 were accessing ARVs, half of whom access them from health facilities within Kampala.

According to the health ministry an estimated 110,000 children are living with HIV. About 50,000 of these are in urgent need of life-saving HIV treatment yet only 10,000 are receiving the essential drugs.

Faith, 17, left many participants teary with her testimony on battling stigma and taking ARVs.