'Putting pen to paper' to help children with HIV

“Sick kids need medicine. Please share with them,” Zoia Kallimanis Foster, from New York, read from her letter to pharmaceutical executives and government leaders.

Children from 14 countries have written letters to drug companies and governments, urging them to help children living with HIV/AIDS – through the ‘Prescription for Life’ campaign, launched today on Universal Children’s Day.

They are asking them “to improve testing and treatment for infants and children living with HIV”, estimated to number more than two million in 2007.

Only about 15% of those children get the antiretroviral drugs they need to stay alive.

“Without treatment, nearly a third of HIV-positive infants die by their first birthday, and half of all children born with HIV die before they are two years old,” the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance says.

The alliance and UN partners held a panel today at the UN headquarters in New York on children with HIV, as well as launching an exhibition of the letters last night at the UN.

“These letters remind us that if children can figure it out, why can’t we?” Canadian Karen Plater, co-chairperson of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance’s HIV and AIDS Strategy Group, asked at the exhibit.

I know this is the second “campaign” post this week but, like the Lords of Bling campaign, I think it’s an outstanding initiative.

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