Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters - November 23, 2004
The recommendation by the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), UNAIDS and World Health Organization (WHO) follows a report in The Lancet medical journal last Friday that a daily dose of the drug co-trimoxazole nearly halved the death rate in children.
Trials, involving children aged 1 to 14 years in Zambia, lasted 19 months and the drug deemed a big success.
The U.N. agencies, in their joint advice to health ministries and aid workers, said that co-trimoxazole was a "crucial potentially life-saving intervention that should be given to all HIV exposed children born to HIV-infected mothers."
It should be offered as "part of a basic package of care to reduce morbidity and mortality," the agencies said.
Treatment should begin in children from 4-6 weeks of age and should continue until HIV infection has been definitively ruled out and the mother is no longer breastfeeding, they added.
It should be used before children require antiretroviral drugs "because it may even postpone the time at which antiretroviral therapy needs to be started," the joint statement said.
Jim Kim, director of WHO's HIV department, told Reuters: "This is an important piece of information which we hope to get out so that ministries of health change practices very quickly. We'd be happy if it is implemented in the next six months."
The drug is already used to both prevent and treat a form of pneumonia which commonly kills both HIV-infected adults and children, according to WHO.
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