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The international NGO, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), on Tuesday said pressure must be placed on pharmaceutical firms to manufacture AIDS medicines adapted to the needs of children.
In a statement made during the UN paediatric AIDS summit in Geneva, Daniel Berman, coordinator of MSF's campaign for access to essential medicines, said companies had no commercial interest in providing the drugs, because children in developed countries were rarely born with HIV and developing nations could not afford specialised antiretrovirals.
"To really make an impact, international organisations and national programmes will need to work proactively with governments and drug companies to overcome the lack of commercial interest in AIDS drugs for children," Berman said.
Research shows that in 2003, over 2.5 million children were infected with HIV, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa, and approximately 50 percent of all children living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries die before the age of two.
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