Clinton makes World AIDS Day donation
By:
Updated: April 17, 2007
Bill Clinton will be helping to play the role of Santa. His sack of goodies will contain the gift of life for many children in India.
The former US president will formally donate 10,000 pediatric doses of antiretroviral (ART) drugs, the only effective way to treat HIV, to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday, the eve of World AIDS Day.
The ART doses will increase the lifespan of these infected children by 10-15 years. Until now, the drugs were administered to children by dividing fractions of adult formulations according to the child`s age, which often led to under- or over-dosage, causing resistance to the drug.
Sonia will also release the recently developed treatment protocol for pediatric HIV cases under the National Pediatric HIV/AIDS Initiative.
Seven pediatric HIV excellence centers are being set up in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Imphal. These will have qualitative polymerase chain reaction machines (PCR), the only diagnostic tool in the world that accurately detects the presence of HIV in children aged below 13.
(Copyright 2006 Newsroom Solutions, LLC)
