The World Health Organization (WHO) states there are currently more than 2.5 million children under the age of 15 living with HIV, with 2.3 million (92 percent) in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a statement from not-for-profit organization Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).
Each day, more than 1,000 children are newly infected with HIV, and 700 die from AIDS-related complications. According to UNAIDS, only 355,000 children with HIV-AIDS have access to antiretroviral therapy, representing just 28 percent of those in urgent clinical need.
Without treatment, one-third of children born with HIV will die before their first birthday, 50 percent will die before they turn two, and 80 percent will die before they are five years old.
"There are millions of children with HIV-AIDS in low- and middle-income countries, but their needs are absent from the HIV research and development agenda, and this is largely because they are poor and voiceless and do not represent a lucrative market," said Dr. Bernard Pécoul, Executive Director of DNDi. "Working with partners, we hope to help fill this terrible gap and offer improved treatment options for children with HIV-AIDS."
Because HIV transmission in young children has largely been eliminated in high-income countries, little market incentive exists for pharmaceutical companies to develop antiretroviral drugs adapted for children.
DNDi has been called to apply its expertise to pediatric HIV-AIDS based on its track record in delivering new medicines for neglected diseases, such as sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and malaria.
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