International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

The HIV rate among children admitted to one South African hospital has fallen significantly in the past few years.

New data from the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes reveals that HIV prevalence fell to 19.3 per cent during 2009 and 2010.

This is after 15 years of a fairly static infection rate which peaked at 31.7 per cent in 2005, reports AidsMap.

However, despite this decrease the rate remains high and although the amount of mother-to-child transmissions has reduced, huge numbers of pregnant women with HIV in South Africa are still not given the drugs that could prevent their newborn from acquiring the virus.

Figures from the World Health Organization show that up to 1.8 million children could be HIV orphans in South Africa, while in 2009 it was estimated 330,000 children could be infected with the virus - 13 per cent of the total amount of children infected worldwide. 

Posted by David Smith