Social Development Network

At the launch of the Campaign to End Pediatric HIV/AIDS (CEPA) in Johannesburg , advocate Graca Machel urged African leaders to redirect state spending to prevent and treat HIV infections among women and children, Agence France-Presse reports. An estimated "1.8 million of the world's two million [HIV-positive] children" live in Sub-saharan Africa, where "[m]other-to-child prevention and treatment coverage currently averages 30 to 40 percent against a target of 80 percent," the news service writes (10/22).