Children who suffer from AIDS/HIV in developing countries such as Africa who undertake no treatment will die within their first two years of their life. It is imperative that children who are diagnosed begin treatment as early on after being diagnosed as possible. This article states that children are rarely taken to a hospital in rural Africa for HIV testing and if they are taken it is usually too late for children benefit from treatment. Médecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) have decided to increase the testing of children in rural areas by encouraging parents to bring their children in for testing. They have based their new ways on placing the emphasis on being able to talk to the children that test positive for HIV by developing child-adapted tools. MSF encourages the parents to be involved with their child’s treatment and that community support is a crucial factor in the follow up stages. MSF are facing the issue of the drug companies supplying drugs that are not adapted to the area where they need to be taken such as supplying a powder form of medicine where clean water is not accessible. From the drug companies they are requesting drugs be provided that are chewable and are able to be stored at high temperatures. MSF is stating that there is a need to reach the children earlier to raise their chance of survival with HIV. I think that more needs to be done by agencies, government and charities to ensure that possible treatments are being made available to all children to improve survival rates in developing countries. Drug companies need to be adaptable to the environments in which the drugs will be supplied in, for example by producing and providing a drug that can be stored in high temperatures to suit the climate in Africa.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79884
Jessica Maw, September 4th 2008, 8:45PM
1 comment:
I think the idleness of taking children to testing facilities stems from a lack of knowledge regarding the whole subjet. Most peple in any underdeveloped nation do not know how the disease is spread, what ailments signify the disease, or even that there are preventitive actions and certain medications that can be taken to avoid the disease. More importantly, most of the people contracting the disease and having children, are children themselves with no older generation healthy enough and educated enough to teach them a positive lifestyle. I think more needs to be done about education within these countries. Knowledge is power and with the knowledge to protect yourself, anything is possible.
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