Children with Aids in Africa often get very little medical attention.
It is astounding but true that when compared with adults who suffer from HIV infection who receive anti retro viral therapy to battle the illness, only half of all children with Aids stand the chance of receiving life saving drugs. Sadly, out of the over two million children world wide that is affected by Aids often less than one-tenth get medical attention.
Swaziland one of the most highly HIV affected belts of the world is home to many children bereft of medical help engulfed in a sense of hopelessness. Many children who are fatherless and being given care by mothers who are HIV positive live in the shadows of death not really knowing if they are infected by the deadly virus because of umpteen hurdles that come up like suffocating financial situations and dearth of hospitals in their locality. Most of them have no choice but to wait until death comes knocking at their door. Statistics show that more than half of all children afflicted with aids do not live to see their sixth birthday. It’s a piteous plight as the little ones have no voice loud enough to be heard amidst the clamor made in the name of Aids.Poverty and deficit of infra structure and the unending miles between them and the clinics are the next big giants that loom over the children sealing their fate and increasing their woes. In spite of the inspiring contributions of many charitable organizations as well as rich endowments from the government at many a juncture its children who stand to lose out on specific medication due to the fact that the available free medicines are often not suitable for them.
Pharmaceuticals are yet to come up with drugs of choice of suitable combinations tailor made for children in Swaziland. Major pharmacy giants deny that there is a lack of child friendly ARV drugs being exported to Africa from other continents and pass the buck on to mothers who are blamed for not taking their sick children to the nearest clinic which is many miles away unknown to the westerners who are used to hitch hiking miles thanks to their sophistication, which by the way is also missing in interior Africa.
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Source-Medindia
MST
