CHILDREN AND AIDS

CHILDREN

AND AIDS

Improved blood screening has almost eliminated HIV transmission to children through transfusions, and according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) nearly all new cases of HIV in American children result from passing it from infected mother to fetus. On average, 30% of babies born to HIV-infected mothers are born with the infection, and mothers can also transmit it to babies through breast milk (see card 94).

NIH figures indicate that 50% of the children with AIDS in the U.S. had died by 1992, leaving approximately 20,000 infected with the virus at that time. Then AIDS was listed as the ninth leading cause of death among children from one to four years old, but during the 1990s AIDS is expected to be among the leading causes of death in U.S. children. Estimates from the World Health Organization indicate that by the year 2000, 10 million children will be infected with HIV worldwide, and 10 to 15 million children will lose one parent because of death caused by AIDS.

The Pediatric AIDS Foundation, or PAF (see card 94), states that AIDS affects children differently from adults, requiring different treatment, and therefore research on AIDS in children should be conducted separately. PAF together with the Magic Johnson Foundation (see card 26) has underwritten a pioneering study to find ways to block the passage of HIV from an infected mother to her unborn child. In its role as an advocate for children with AIDS, PAF also points out that most HIV-infected children are born into poor families, and that in addition to their illness, they often suffer discrimination because of the disease (see cards 41 and 55). Next Card 88: IV DRUG USERS and AIDS

AIDS AWARENESS: PEOPLE WITH AIDS

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