NAIROBI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Providing universal access to HIV treatment for children remains a distant goal in Kenya, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday as the world marks the World AIDS Day.

    According to the rights group, over the last year, the number of HIV-infected children on antiretroviral treatment in Kenya has risen to about 28,000.

    But about half the Kenyan children infected with HIV have no access to treatment, few are receiving daily cotrimoxazole, and a lack of access to adequate nutrition increases risks for all infected children of dying of the disease.

    "For this situation to change, the Kenyan government needs both to scale up testing and treatment of children and to address human rights abuses against HIV-positive children and their mothers," said Juliane Kippenberg, senior researcher in the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch.

    Kenya's situation is indicative of the situation in much of sub-Saharan Africa, where the vast majority of the world's HIV-positive children live.

    In 2008, 91 percent of new HIV infections among children were in Africa. Treatment coverage of children in Kenya is higher than Africa-wide, where the average is about 35 percent, compared with 49 percent in Kenya.