Saving The Young

U.N. Marks World AIDS Day With Push To Save HIV's Smallest Victims

(CBS/AP)  Most youngsters still catch the virus from their mothers despite the existence of simple and effective ways to reduce transmission during birth.

A single dose of nevirapine given to an infected mother at onset of labor and to her newborn can reduce transmission by about 50 percent. In the United States, nevirapine is used in combination with other drugs to reduce transmission to less than 2 percent. But only 10 percent of pregnant women globally have access to such services.

Too many children then go undiagnosed until it is too late to save them, Anabwani said. In countries like Botswana, where HIV has infected more than a third of adults, children living with the virus have often lost one or both parents leaving no one to ensure they are tested and treated in time.

There are also clinical obstacles to diagnosing the youngest patients. The most common way of identifying HIV in adults is to test for antibodies. But even HIV-free infants can have antibodies from their mothers, making the test inaccurate before 15-18 months. By that time, many infected babies will have suffered life-threatening opportunistic infections.

The Baylor center tests for the virus itself, but this is expensive and requires specialized laboratories not readily available in poorer settings.

Most physicians at public hospitals are not familiar with pediatric AIDS and can be reluctant to take on cases, said Anabwani, whose center helps train health workers.

There has also been little research on treating children, so the options are more limited and dosing guidelines less precise than for adults, he said. The youngest children cannot swallow pills and need liquid medicines not always available.

Of the 20 drugs developed so far, just 12 are labeled for pediatric use and seven for children under 2, according to the U.S.-based Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS foundation. While prices have dropped significantly for adult medicines, children's formulations remain up to eight times more expensive, the foundation said in a recent report.

Some countries cannot afford to include children's medicines in their programs. In Malawi, clinicians grind up adult pills to approximate a child-sized dose, Anabwani said.

Fixed-dose combinations, which include several drugs in one pill, are making it simpler and cheaper to treat adults, but they aren't available for children.
Pilang Letsebe struggled to cope with the complex regimen for her great-granddaughter, Mary, after the child's parents died of AIDS complications. The 9-year-old missed doses, grew ill and developed resistance to her medicines.

In Botswana, there are alternatives. But in other countries, children get one chance at treatment. With the help of a young aunt, Letsebe is now determined to get Mary all her drugs on time.

As she waited patiently to collect the girl's monthly supply of medicine, she said, "I want Mary to grow like any other child."