World Aids Day: Parents and Children

Today is World AIDS Day, so I’m continuing my tradition of sharing stories and statistics about parents and children with HIV/AIDS.

First, two resources for stories about parents with AIDS:

The Recollectors, a storytelling and community-building site for those who have lost parents to AIDS, has posted numerous new stories. (See also my interview with one of the founders.)
Abigail Garner, author of the highly recommended Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is, has posted several excerpts from its chapter on AIDS. She includes stories of children growing up with gay parents during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, advice on how to support children with HIV-positive parents, and tips on how both HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay parents themselves can talk with their children about their status and how they are protecting themselves.

Let’s also not forget the still-sobering statistics about mothers, children, and HIV/AIDS (statistics about fathers and AIDS seem harder to find):

The good news (via UN AIDS) is that “New HIV infections among children have declined by 50% since 2010.”
In 2015, some 77% [69—86%] of pregnant women living with HIV had access to antiretroviral medicines to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies,” up from 73% in 2014.
At the same time, as Avert tell us, “In 2015, an estimated 36.7 million people were living with HIV (including 1.8 million children)…. In 2015, there were roughly 2.1 million new HIV infections, 150,000 of which were among children. Most of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa and were infected via their HIV-positive mothers during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding.” Of those children, 49% are receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART)—which means more than half still are not.
Still, Avert says “progress remains mixed,” and notes that in addition to children living with HIV, “millions more children every year are indirectly affected by the impact of the HIV epidemic on their families and communities.”
And while deaths in most age groups are decreasing, they are increasing in adolescents, according to a 2015 report from the UN Children’s Fund. They tell us, “The number of adolescent deaths from AIDS has tripled over the last 15 years with 26 new infections occurring every hour…. AIDS is the top cause of death among adolescents (15-19) in Africa and the second leading cause of death among adolescents globally. In sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the highest prevalence, girls are vastly more affected, accounting for 7 in 10 new infections among 15-19 year olds.”
Finally, in TIME magazine yesterday, Chip Lyons, president and CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, notes that “About 400 children are infected with HIV every day around the world, 90% of them via mother-to-child transmission. Without treatment, half of HIV-infected infants will die before their second birthday.” There’s hope, though. He says, “The end of AIDS in children is within sight. If we act purposefully and with ambition, we could welcome the first AIDS-free generation by 2020. The U.S. has played a transformational leadership role, supported by Democrats and Republicans alike, in funding and driving a coordinated global effort to both invest in prevention and treat people with HIV/AIDS.” Will that funding continue under a Trump administration? Time will tell—but we have to keep the pressure on.