Lualaba: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has launched a bold new national initiative aimed at eliminating AIDS among children by 2030 – a move hailed by the United Nations as a beacon of hope amid growing global funding constraints.
According to United Nations, the initiative, backed by an initial commitment of $18 million in national funds, was announced by President Félix Tshisekedi at a government conference in the south-eastern Lualaba province. President Tshisekedi emphasized the country’s commitment to preventing, detecting, and effectively treating HIV in children, declaring that the DRC can no longer tolerate children being born and growing up with HIV when preventative tools are available.
The Presidential Initiative to End Pediatric AIDS will focus on political leadership, systems strengthening, and inclusive healthcare access, particularly for children, adolescents, and pregnant women. While the DRC has made significant progress in adult HIV response, with 91 percent of adults living with HIV accessing antiretroviral treatment, the rate for children remains stagnant at 44 percent, unchanged for over a decade. Thousands of Congolese children are infected annually, largely due to the lack of screening among pregnant women, missing crucial opportunities to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
The initiative targets four core areas: improving early detection and treatment of HIV for children, adolescents, and pregnant women; preventing new infections in children, adolescents, and mothers; guaranteeing systematic and immediate treatment for those diagnosed; and removing structural barriers hindering young people’s access to health services.
The UN Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has praised the initiative as an example of national leadership needed to address significant gaps in the global HIV response. Susan Kasedde, UNAIDS Country Director in the DRC, commended the initiative as a breath of fresh air amid the turbulence in global development financing, which threatens to jeopardize systems supporting the most vulnerable. Recent funding cuts have put critical HIV services at risk, with medication and condom stocks feared to run out within months, impacting key areas such as antenatal testing, pediatric treatment, and data quality monitoring.