UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS

August 1, 2008

HIV-positive children in need of treatment

Dear friends,

Last month, my focus was on UNICEF’s Family Package programme, the challenges it faces, the scope of the work involved and why it is crucial in Rwanda to bring the entire family together around the issues of HIV and AIDS. Today, I would like to tell you about children living with HIV and AIDS who are in need of treatment.

In order to properly treat children, it is essential to implement systems that include the entire family and address all the issues that surround HIV.

Identifying and retaining HIV-positive children in care and treatment services is particularly challenging. This is due to a series of obstacles, including, for instance, a lack of access to testing for exposed infants under 18 months of age. Added to this, is the lack of knowledge or confidence among many clinicians regarding paediatric staging, treatment and dosing. Also, limited resources–both human and financial–make it difficult to adequately keep track of patients and recover those who may be lost to follow-up.

Now where exactly do we stand on paediatric treatment of HIV-positive children in Rwanda? Despite all constraints faced by paediatric treatment there are encouraging signs. According to the Rwanda Treatment Research Centre 2007, an estimated 4,350 children living with HIV, were taking treatment by December 2007. About 1,956 children were put on treatment in the course of 2007 with an average number of 163 children per month. A lot remains to be done to ensure that more children in need of treatment get the care service they need to enable them to reach adulthood. With your support, we can save more lives of children living with HIV and AIDS.