Only one child in twenty who needs HIV treatment receives it, according to a report launched today by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partner child advocacy organizations urging that the international community redress this problem to save lives.
Only one child in twenty who needs HIV treatment receives it, according to a report launched today by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partner child advocacy organizations urging that the international community redress this problem to save lives.
“Children are the missing face of HIV and AIDS. Millions have watched their worlds shatter around them because of this disease, losing parents, teachers, a sense of security and hope for the future,” said Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF.
“Children affected by HIV and AIDS are often discriminated against and face enormous odds,” she added. “Through strengthened partnerships among governments, donors, international agencies and the private sector, we must do everything possible to ensure that drugs, diagnostic equipment and resources are available to treat children.”
Dean Hirsch, Chairman of the Global Movement for Children and president of World Vision International, said the lack of treatment amounts to a death sentence for millions of children. “Without treatment, most children with HIV will die before their fifth birthday,” he said. “These children are missing out on treatment because they are missing from the global AIDS agenda.”
The report, Saving Lives: Children’s right to HIV and AIDS treatment, reveals that despite an urgent need for paediatric treatment, alarmingly few drugs are available in formulations that are affordable and able to be administered to children while the development of new drugs continues to focus mainly on adults.
Although the majority of people living with HIV are adults, HIV-positive children represent a disproportionate number of those needing immediate treatment. More than 90 per cent of children with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. These children also have the least access to any treatment. But in the current profit-driven climate of drug development, they offer little financial incentive to the pharmaceutical industry, the report states.
As a result, despite an urgent need for paediatric formulations of anti retroviral therapy (ART) in developing countries, child appropriate treatment is practically non-existent, the agencies said.
While ensuring that all HIV-positive children have access to treatment will save lives, prevention of infection is crucial. According to the report, 90 per cent of HIV– positive children are infected by a failure to prevent mother-to-child transmission in the first place.
The Global Movement for Children is a worldwide movement of organizations uniting efforts to build a world fit for children. It was commissioned by UNICEF, ENDA Tiers Monde, the Latin America and Caribbean Network for Children (Redlamyc), Oxfam, Plan, Save the Children and World Vision.