Global Plan Released to Reduce Mother-Child HIV Transmission At
the 2011 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS,
sponsored by UNFPA, UNAIDS, UNESCO, the World Health
Organization (WHO), and the International Planned Parenthood
Federation (IPPF), world leaders announced the launch of a
Global Plan to eliminate HIV infections in children by 2015 and
to help already-infected mothers. The plan aims to address the
needs of HIV-positive pregnant women and their children. The
Global Plan noted that "In 2009, 370,000 children became newly
infected with HIV globally and an estimated 42,000—60,000
pregnant women died because of HIV." By contrast, the mother-to-
child transmission rate in high-income countries was around
zero. Moreover, approximately 15.7 million women worldwide over
age 15 were living with HIV and about 1.4 million of them became
pregnant in 2009. Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of
UNFPA, emphasized the need to alter gender norms and reduce
gender-based violence as part of HIV preventio