On Tuesday, UN agencies, civil society groups, governments, and international partners announced a new Global Alliance for ending AIDS in children by 2030. An announcement was made at the landmark International AIDS Conference, which is coming to end in Montreal, Canada.
Speaking at the conference, Limpho Nteko of Lesotho shared her journey from a surprise HIV diagnosis to pioneering a mothers-to-mothers program to combat gestational transmission of HIV. Despite being pregnant when diagnosed, Ms. Nteko stressed the importance of community leadership in the fight against HIV.
She said, “To succeed, we need a healthy, informed generation of young people who feel free to talk about HIV, and to get the service and support they need to protect themselves and their children from HIV.”
The alliance will have four pillars of collective actions including: optimizing treatment continuity and closing the treatment gap between mothers living with HIV and nursing teenage girls. Adolescent girls and women who are nursing and expecting should be protected from and tested for new HIV infections. Encourage accessible testing, effective treatment, and all-encompassing care for newborns, kids, and teenagers who have been exposed to or are infected with HIV. The social and institutional obstacles that prevent access to services, as well as gender equality.
