A Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of Ndola, located in the Copperbelt, is urging the government to step up and keep working hard to stop mother-to-child HIV transmission.

Father Kelvin Bwalya, who is part of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Zambia, reacted to the 2025 UNICEF Global HIV Report. This report shows that more than 2.4 million kids and teens aged 0 to 9 years are living with HIV around the world.

He has asked the government to improve maternal health services so that every woman can get antenatal testing, counseling, and HIV care.

Father Bwalya also stressed the need for the government to make sure that all health facilities have enough supplies of HIV medicines for kids and testing kits.

The report states that Zambia has about 58,000 children aged 0 to 14 living with HIV.

He mentioned that among teens aged 10 to 19, around 65,000 are living with HIV, and many of them are not receiving the care and treatment they need.

In an interview with ZNBC News, Father Bwalya said that the UNICEF report warns that if we don’t work harder, the next generation might have to face the same problems as before.