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 Former President Bill Clinton launched a program Saturday that is to nearly double the number of children receiving treatment for HIV infection in Kenya by the end of the year.
Some 100,000 children are infected with HIV, but only 1,200 receive treatment. The Clinton Foundation Pediatric HIV/AIDS Initiative will provide treatment to an extra 1,000 children in this East African nation.
The initiative is part of the Clinton Foundation's goal to have 10,000 children on anti-retroviral treatment in at least 10 countries by the end of 2005.
Clinton has raised funds from private donors led by the Children Investment Fund Foundation, a London-based charity that funds projects to improve the lives of children living in poor countries. The U.S.-based investment fund Lone Pine Capital has also made a substantial contribution.
Children account for one-sixth of annual HIV/AIDS deaths worldwide, but represent far less than five percent of current treatment coverage, according to the U.N.'s World Health Organization.
The lack of coverage is a result of difficulties associated with pediatric HIV/AIDS care. Diagnosis of the infection in children under 18 months old has been expensive and complex, according to a statement from the Clinton Foundation.
Health professionals also believe that only pediatricians can treat children, but few of them in developing countries have anti-retroviral experience. The cost of pediatric medications has also been prohibitive — four to five times that of most affordable adult formulations — partly because suppliers have not received large orders.
Clinton flew to Rwanda later Saturday for the last leg of his six-nation tour of Africa, intended to focus attention on the AIDS crisis in the continent.
Since 2002, the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative has been assisting countries in care, treatment and prevention programs. It has partnerships with more than a dozen countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia.
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