Treatment Aspect of Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Children

With the availability of antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV infection, which was once considered a progressively fatal illness, has now become a chronic treatable condition in children, as in adults. However, the challenges these children are forced to face are far more daunting. The most significant shortcoming in the response to paediatric HIV remains the woefully inadequate prevention of mother to child transmission, allowing a large number of children to be born with HIV in the first place, in spite of it being largely preventable. Care for HIV-positive infants and children are most successful when provided in the context of care for the entire family. Most caregivers are also HIV positive and must take care of their own health needs to meet the needs of their children. Unique challenges must be recognized and understood in order to provide appropriate holistic management enabling them to become productive citizens of tomorrow. To address these multi-factorial issues, there is an urgent need for a concerted, sustainable and multipronged national and global response.