Aid agencies have distributed a strawberry-flavoured tablet for children living with HIV in six African countries, the first generic pediatric version of a key anti-retroviral, global health agency UNITAID said on Sunday.
According to UNITAD’s spokesman Herve VerhooselUNITAID and Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) funding procured 100,000 packs of the dolutegravir formulation across Nigeria, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Benin to combat the spread of HIV.
The UN Joint Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that 85% of the 2.6 million children with HIV infection are from sub-Saharan Africa. About 650,000 children are living with HIV/AIDS and approximately 1000 infected infants are born every day in Africa.
“With the recent delivery of the formulation in those 6 first countries, this project is now a reality,” Verhoosel
Verhoosel also stated that a partnership with Medicines Patent Pool allowed for voluntary licensing agreements across 121 countries.
