WHO, UNICEF Meet to Discuss Blueprint for May U.N. Meeting on Children; AIDS Listed as Leading Cause of Death

HIV/AIDS is one of the leading causes of death for children around the world, according to health officials from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund, the New York Times reports. WHO and UNICEF officials stated that HIV/AIDS, diarrhea, malaria, measles, pneumonia and malnutrition are the main causes of death for children worldwide (Olson, New York Times, 3/14). Officials from the two agencies were meeting in Stockholm this week to discuss strategies for reducing the 11 million preventable child deaths that occur around the world each year. "[T]he annual death toll of (11 million) children is nearly four times as high as the number of people dying from AIDS," WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland said. Officials attending the meeting aimed to incorporate strategies for reducing preventable childhood deaths into a blueprint that will be presented at the U.N. General Assembly's special session on children in May. Anne Henderson, a primary health care specialist with the humanitarian group WorldVision, said that the special session will discuss a variety of HIV prevention strategies for children, including abstinence, delaying the onset of sexual activity, monogamy and safe sex (Barber, Washington Times, 3/14).