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Absent kiddie AIDS drugs present "doomsday" scenario

    JOHANNESBURG

    A senior UN official has expressed concern over the lack of paediatric anti-AIDS formulas, despite an estimated 2.2 million children living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.

    Stephen Lewis, the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York this week that the apparatus of HIV/AIDS treatment had been assembled as though children did not exist.

    He referred to the lack of child-friendly AIDS formulas as a "doomsday" scenario for infected children.

    Recalling his recent visit to Malawi and Tanzania, Lewis said: "Incredibly enough, we don't even have paediatric formulations. When treatment takes place, doctors and nurses fumble over breaking capsules into several pieces to estimate the dosage for a child, or scramble around to find a syrup solution."

    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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