What about the minors?

An estimated 58 percent of children living with HIV/AIDS do not have access to antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, a situation that is believed to contribute to an upsurge of infant mortality rates in the country.This means that only about 42 percent out of an estimated 100 000 children living with HIV and Aids have access to ARVs while up to 95 percent of adults living with HIV are able to get them.

The infant mortality ratio for children below five years in the country, is pegged at 84 per 1 000 infants. Such figures have made it hard for the country to achieve universal access treatment for minors living with HIV/AIDS. Why are infants still not a priority when it comes to the fight against HIV?

Up to now, early-infant-diagnosis technology machines that are able to detect the virus within six weeks from birth are only available at central hospitals in Bulawayo and Harare health institutions. The rest of the country is compelled to settle for machines that detect the virus within 18 months. How sad! But why is the process of decentralising these machines slow? Early detection allows a child to be put on life saving ARV treatment while a majority of those who do not have access to early diagnosis die before they even reach 18 months.

According to health experts, although HIV positive pregnant mothers could be put on drugs to prevent transmission of the virus to infants at birth through PMTCT, the method is still not 100 percent effective, hence the need for testing after an infant is born. 

The most affected infants are those born in district Hospitals in the rural areas. District hospitals still do not have the new early infant diagnosis technology and rural hospitals are compelled to send blood samples to city hospitals for testing. The situation is partly because when it comes to the distribution of ARVs to minors, it is largely done in cities and towns while remote areas are somewhat overlooked. Such developments lead to a low uptake of ARV drugs for minors living in the outskirts of major cities and towns.

At the end of the day, the country is hindered from accessing universal treatment for children living with HIV/AIDS.The accessibility of ARVs to children must be a priority because infants demand a lot of special care and I believe that the situation is more critical for HIV and Aids orphans and vulnerable children, particularly those from child headed families. Children between the ages of 6 to 12 years are accessing ARVs through private pharmacies. The outcry is that infants from poor families whose parents or guardians are too poor to afford ARVs are left out in the fight.

This situation can be likened to a seed that has fallen on a thorny bush that when it grows, it fails to reach up to the sun as it is chocked to death. If the fight against HIV is not being taken serious at grass root levels, how possible can it be won on a bigger scale?