More investment for HIV positive children

  1. Posted on Sunday 5 December 2010 - 05:41
    Purity
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    Purity Mwendwa Ndereva, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
    Caritas is urging governments and pharmaceutical companies to invest more in HIV prevention and care for children and reducing mother-to-child transmission.
    Uganda: AIDS Patients Petition Government
    "We need to give children with HIV the chance to live,” said Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, President of Caritas Internationalis.

    “Caritas asks governments and drug companies to support better and earlier testing and treatment for these children. This is a life or death situation.”

    Caritas says many children and women are still being left behind in the fight against AIDS, despite welcome advances in HIV testing and treatment.

    The UNAIDS Global Report for 2010 says 2.5 million children are living with HIV. The report says 90 percent of HIV-positive children live in Africa but only 26 percent of them are receiving life-saving treatment.

    Fifty percent of untreated children with HIV die before their second birthday.
    Caritas launched the “HAART for Children” campaign in 2009. HAART stands for Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Treatment.

    The campaign says cheaper and more sophisticated HIV and TB testing tools and “child-friendly” medicines are required in poor countries.

    Child-friendly medicines are manufactured in specially adapted dosages and formulations. They should include fixed-dose combinations of anti-retroviral medications to avoid under- or over-dosing, says a statement on the official website of Caritas.

    These medicines are available at low-cost in many parts of the world, but mothers often avoid testing because they fear stigma and discrimination. Ninety percent of HIV-infected infants are born to mothers who were never tested and never received medicines to prevent transmission.

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