John Oywa
19 July 2007
Nairobi — More than 90 per cent of children infected with HIV cannot access anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, a senior Government official has said.
Director of Medical Services, Dr James Nyikal, said that out of the 130,000 patients on ARVs as at March this year, only 10,000 or seven per cent were children.
Nyikal said 50 per cent of the 120,000 children suffering from the scourge in the country die before their first birthday due to unavailability of the life-prolonging drugs.
"It's estimated that there are 120,000 HIV positive children in the country. We estimate that out of this, between 40, 000 and 50,000 need ARVs," Nyikal said.
Nyanza Province, which has the highest HIV/Aids prevalence, records only 2,448 children - a paltry 5.7 per cent - on the drugs.
Government developing strategies to address the problem
Nyikal, who spoke at the Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu during a health workshop on Wednesday, said the Government was developing strategies to address the problem.
He said efforts to put more children on ARVs have been hampered by high cost of syrup and paediatric tablets.
"The cost of these formulations was an initial limiting factor. ARVs cost $500 (Sh31,500) per child per year as compared to $200 (Sh12,600) for an adult per year," said Nyikal.
He added: "Difficulties in diagnosing HIV in children less than 18 months old has also been a challenge since diagnosis in this group requires use of DNA as they might still have the maternal anti-bodies, which will result in false positive results if antibody tests are carried out."
Nyikal also blamed poor handling of children ailments on lack of skills and confidence by health workers.
Health workers, he added, were also facing problems in identifying potentially infected children as this relied on willing parents to bring their children for tests.
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