Some 7,000 children die each year in Zimbabwe due to lack of access to treatment

Harare, 8 sep (EFE).-up to 7,000 children die every year in Zimbabwe because they have no access to ARVs, said today the State newspaper The Herald.

“Between 6,000 and 7,000 children die each year as a result of the virus of human immunodeficiency (HIV, cause AIDS) and, in most cases, because without access to paediatric antirretroviales”, said Peter Salama, representative in Zimbabwe of the United Nations Fund for children (UNICEF).

In statements obtained by the newspaper, Salama said, during a National Conference on AIDS held on Wednesday, part of the problem is that he is not practiced the HIV test to children when they are born.

“It is important to have an early diagnosis, since half of the children not analysed will not arrive in the two years,” said the head of UNICEF in Zimbabwe.

Salama said that the lack of technology, in particular from that used for the analysis of HIV, also influenced this high rate of deaths children.

Only 30 percent of the HIV-positive children have access to antiretrovirals, below the average for the region.

Zimbabwe is one of the countries with the highest rate of HIV-infected, with 14.3 per cent in its population aged 15 to 49, according to recent data from the United Nations agency on AIDS (UNAIDS), 2009. EFE