Aug 7, 2008, 0:58 GMT
Washington/Mexico City - Far greater research on medicines for HIV-infected children is needed to prevent them from dying, the medical humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) said Tuesday.
'So few children are born with HIV in developed countries that research into paediatric formulations is not a priority for pharmaceutical companies,' said Karen Day, pharmacist co-ordinator at MSF's Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines.
Appropriate AIDS drugs for children are hard to come by, especially in poorer countries.
'Most of the drugs currently available are ill-adapted for use in resource-limited settings, as they are either powders that need to be mixed with water or bitter-tasting syrups that also require refrigeration,' Day said.
'For the newly approved drugs, we have no safety data for use in children,' Day told delegates at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, where MSF launched a report, 'Running in Place: Too Many Patients Still in Urgent Need of HIV/AIDS Treatment.'
In the last five years, MSF has put 4,000 children under age 5 on antiretrovirals. While 79 per cent of them remain on treatment, data revealed that children less than 12 months of age were much less likely to survive, highlighting the critical need for early diagnoses.
'Children are not only fighting against AIDS, they are fighting against time. Without treatment, half of the children born with HIV will die before they reach their second birthday,' said Fernando Parreno, a paediatrician for MSF in Zimbabwe.
Helena Huerga of MSF in Kenya said: 'Medicines alone are not enough to keep children living with HIV/AIDS alive. They and their caregivers need to receive psychosocial support along with their treatment and care, especially as they grow into adolescence and beyond.'
MSF provides antiretroviral therapy in 27 countries to more than 140,000 people, including 10,000 children.
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