HIV/AIDS
drugs for children
Sadly, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has not
spared children, claiming the lives of at least four million worldwide since it
emerged. According to the Ecumenical
Advocacy Alliance, in 2006, 2.3 million children under 15 years of age were
living with HIV. Out of this population, 665,000 children required
anti-retroviral treatment (ART), but only one out of 12 children were put on
anti-retrovirals (ARVs).
However, it is well known that anti-retroviral drugs are essential to people
living with HIV/AIDS, because they bolster their immune system and slow down the
progress of HIV in their bodies, enabling them to live longer and healthier. It
is therefore unfortunate that while many adults living with HIV/AIDS have access
to ARVs today, only a small number of children living
with HIV/AIDS have access to the same. Consequently, about 40 children are
losing their lives to AIDS every hour.
At present, pediatric ARV formulations for
children are insufficient. In many parts of the world, especially poor
communities, children are given ARVs used for adults.
The pills are broken and crushed, and then administered to the children. The
main concern with this method is that children may be under- or over-dosed with
the ARV drugs.
Communities without resources face several
challenges with regard to pediatric treatment. They may not have the capacity
and equipments to diagnose HIV in children at an early stage; money with which
to procure ARVs for children as they may cost up to
four times the cost of drugs for adults; and/or health personnel who are
familiar with pediatric treatment and related issues.
Recognizing this major problem and the
fact that children have a right to health, some pharmaceutical companies, such
as Abbot, intend to start producing pediatric AIDS treatments. This is a
welcomed development and such companies need to be encouraged in their efforts,
but the drugs must be affordable.
Unfortunately, fear of stigmatization in
some communities prevents parents from taking their children for HIV testing.
Some parents believe that people might conclude that they too are HIV positive
due to irresponsible, immoral or promiscuous behaviors. Parents also fear
discrimination due others’ unfounded fear of transmission by association, for
either themselves or their children. In general, parents worry that if they or
their children are known to have HIV, this would bring shame to their family.
This leads to ignorance of a child’s HIV status, which then results in death
from childhood illnesses and opportunistic infections which are in fact
preventable and treatable, had the child started ARVs at an early age. The older the age of a child’s HIV diagnosis, the less
effective is the treatment.
Concerned
individuals and organizations can help by doing any of the following:
- Appeal to pharmaceutical companies to
generate more pediatric ARVs formulations and make
them available at affordable price in low-income countries and communities, so
that lives of children who are in need of ARVs
should be saved.
- Ask governments of high-income countries
and the donor community to consider increasing funding for pediatric treatment
and training of clinicians and caregivers in poor countries. For instance, you
may ask the U.S. government to increase funding for PEPFAR, an initiative
that, amongst others, is working toward increasing the number of children in
HIV/AIDS treatment.
- Be vigilant and campaign against
unacceptably high prices of pediatric formulations that some pharmaceuticals
may charge.
- Consider joining or supporting
organizations (e.g. Global AIDS
Alliance and Doctors Without Borders) that work to ensure that children
living with HIV/AIDS have access to pediatric AIDS treatment.
- Pressure your government to join the
movement to find alternative frameworks for supporting research in medicine
that achieve a better balance between intellectual property and public health.
Campaigns
currently underway: