The advocacy officer, Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation Uganda Pauline Kisembo has appealed to the general public to ensure that children get the required care and treatment because they are the future of the country.
Uganda children
In a press statement seen by Ultimate Media, Kisembo says the current HIV/AIDS prevention efforts are targeting married couples and ignoring children because according to a recent study, married couples are the most vulnerable.
He says children are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS because they can’t make decisions alone on treatment and prevention without the intervention of their parents or guardians.
Kisembo also appealed to all stakeholders involved in fighting the HIV/AIDS scourge to step up their efforts in getting every pregnant woman tested for the virus because according to statistics from the ministry of health, 90 percent of the children get infected with the disease through mother to child transmission.
According to the 2009 Ministry of health report, Uganda has over 130,000 children below the age of 15 infected with HIV/AIDS. Sixteen percent of these are in need of urgent antiretroviral treatment or they die before turning two years old but only one in every three children that need the drugs receive them.