Children let down in AIDS drug availability - MSF

HIV-positive children in developing countries are dying needlessly because of a scarcity of suitable anti-AIDS drugs, the international medical NGO, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said.

According to MSF, little was being done to produce the correct dosage sizes and combinations of paediatric antiretroviral formulas, while adults were increasingly able to obtain the necessary medication.

MSF pointed out that where medicines designed for children did exist, they could cost six times as much as those for adults, and most doctors were forced to create dosages for children by opening capsules, measuring the contents and then resealing the capsules.

The Associated Press quoted MSF AIDS coordinator, Daniel Berman, as saying: "UNICEF [the UN Children's fund] has let down children to date, because they have not challenged this reality. Four years ago, the common perception was 'it is too expensive to deal with AIDS in Africa'. Since then, it has gotten cheaper and easier to treat adults, but today children suffer from a similar situation."