HIV/AIDS is a major cause of infant and childhood mortality and morbidity in Africa.

Globally, of the 36.7 million people living with HIV, in 2015, 1.8 million were children under age of 15.years there were 150 000 new infections and 110 000 HIV-related deaths in this age group. Eighty- seven percent of all HIV infected children below 15 years, 84% of new infections and 86% of HIV-related deaths were in sub-Saharan Africa. Although there has been a 50% decline in paediatric infections since 2010, the numbers of new paediatric HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa are still unacceptably high.