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Paidamoyo Chipunza Senior Health Reporter
The number of children on anti-retroviral drugs has gone up by about 50 percent, the head of Aids and Tuberculosis Unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Owen Mugurungi has said.
Addressing journalists at an HIV meeting held in Harare recently, Dr Mugurungi said Government was pleased with the increased number of children on treatment which he attributed to various interventions introduced by Government.
“Initially, we had no treatment for children, but now we have paediatric formulations, which have seen treatment coverage rising from 39 percent in 2013 to 75 percent in 2015,” said Dr Mugurungi.
According to the 2014 national HIV estimates, about 186 745 children between the ages of 0 and 14 years were living with HIV.
Averages of 784 children were initiated on ART every month in the first quarter of 2015.
More than 90 percent of HIV in children is acquired though mother-to-child transmission.
Online Reporter