New HIV prevention partnership for Africa

A new partnership aiming to stop children in Africa from contracting HIV has been agreed.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAIDS) and the Millennium Villages Project have signed the new agreement.

Eliminating the transmission of the virus from mother to child is the goal of the initiative, which was agreed at a ceremony in New York.

There will be ten African countries involved in the new scheme, which will create 14 'Millennium Villages' and transmission-free zones in nations most affected by HIV.

Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, said: "In the whole of Western Europe, there were fewer than 100 mother-to-child transmissions in 2007, whereas in sub-Saharan Africa, there were some 370,000.

"We have a major opportunity now to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Africa and save thousands of lives each year."

Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Tanzania, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda are all involved in the project.

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