Improving testing and treatment for children

Improving testing and treatment for children

While stepping up efforts to prevent mother-to-child-transmission would decrease the need for paediatric treatment, it is likely that HIV will continue to infect many thousands of children for years to come. Given this situation, testing and treatment facilities for children need to be improved, and ARVs that can be used in children need to be made much more widely available.

The wider provision of cheaper, simplified drug formulations, fixed-dose combination tablets and low-cost generic versions of paediatric drugs would all have immense benefits. While there have been welcome increases in recent years in the number of children receiving ART, the vast majority go untreated. Although developments in paediatric HIV drugs are urgently needed it has also been observed that "children are often a low priority when it comes to drug development and financing."⁵⁷

The degree to which HIV-related stigma can affect poor levels of testing and adherence to therapy indicates how negative attitudes towards those living with HIV need to be tackled. Efforts to maximise adherence should be strengthened and delivered before and alongside treatment.

General improvements in the health systems of low and middle-income countries would allow for greater resources to be allocated towards treating children. Many countries lack the resources and capacity needed to help children living with HIV, and suffer from a shortage of healthcare workers that are trained to test and treat children.

If such improvements are made, the problems of HIV and AIDS among children could potentially be minimised. At present, though, progress is not happening fast enough. Greater advocacy, funding and effort on the part of governments, international organisations and donors are required if the challenges surrounding HIV treatment for children are to be overcome.