UNITED NATIONS (AP) " Global efforts to provide antiretroviral therapy to children with HIV is lagging sharply compared to adults, according to a U.N. report released Monday.
Only 24 percent of children with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy at the end of 2013, compared to 38 percent of adults. And indications are that there was slow progress this year: The number of children on the therapy increased a mere 3 percent during the first half of 2014, compared to 6 percent for adults.
Treating HIV-infected children has always been complicated because they require smaller doses and additional medication to offset the aggressiveness of antiretrovirals.
"This has always been a challenge, programmatically as well as finding pediatric antiretroviral treatment regimes for children in many countries," said Ninan Varughese, a UNAIDS senior adviser. "The good thing is that you see that it is increasing."
The figures were in a United Nations AIDS agency report released on World AIDS Day, detailing its efforts to end the AIDS epidemic as a global threat by 2030. The report said the goal is achievable, though it highlighted significant gaps in the effort.