PHA-Exchange> Prolonging Survival Among Children Without Access to Antiretroviraldrugs.

[Claudio]

From: stephen minkin 

While "Access for All" may have been the theme of the World AIDS Conference in Bangkok this year, most HIV positive children will not have access to antiretroviral drugs. I'd  like to share a paper by Dr S. Bhattacharyya on strategies for prolonging survival and improving the  quality of life for such children based on his experiences in Calcutta.  

Steve Minkin

HIV POSITIVE CHILDREN OF CALCUTTA- SURVIVAL STRATEGIES WITHOUT ANTIRETROVIRAL DRUGS 

Author- Dr. S. Bhattacharyya, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Pediatrics & Incharge Pediatric HIV/AIDS Clinic, Medical College, University of Calcutta, Calcutta, India. 
Summary :- Pediatric HIV is rapidly progressive than adult HIV infection. Antiretroviral drugs are costly and thus are beyond the reach of the families of HIV positive children. In this study some non-retroviral strategies were tried for the prolongation of survival of 65 (42 males and 23 females) HIV positive children (2-11 years) who were mostly from poor families. They were longitudinally followed up for three and a half years at Calcutta, India with regular checkup, counseling regarding high standard of hygiene and nutrition, nutritional supplementation, aggressive management of opportunistic infections, and CD4 count monitoring. Significant number of children (83%) were found to be maintaining good health, schooling and near normal CD4 count with significant decrease in the mortality (8 %). 

Full text available from sminkin at yahoo.com 

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