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Kids must be at heart of AIDS programmes

    JOHANNESBURG

    HIV-positive children should be at the forefront of national efforts to provide treatment and care, development experts said this week.

    Peter McDermott of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said: "The global treatment discussion is only beginning to factor in the needs of children, in terms of the kinds of drugs and technologies that are developed, and the resources that are allocated."

    More than 60 health and development experts from around the world are meeting at UNICEF headquarters in New York to develop a common plan to ensure that HIV-positive children get optimal treatment and care, and their needs are on the global agenda.

    AIDS manifests more severely and rapidly in children because they have immature immune systems, and the majority of those born HIV-positive die before the age of five. An estimated 2.8 million children in Africa are infected with the HI virus.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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