Health experts, civil society leaders and Church representatives are in Rome discussing making children with HIV and TB in poor
countries live longer, better lives.
Conference organisers include Caritas Internationalis and the US Embassy to the Holy See. They emphasised the need to cut the number of children with
HIV who are dying because of a lack of adequate care.
“We are here today to join together in a concerted effort to drive urgent action on this most heartbreaking of human
failures. We’re not dealing with global statistics but with individual lives,†said Lesley-Anne Knight, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis.
Caritas is
urging governments and drug companies to improve access to diagnosis and treatment for children with HIV and TB. The HAART for Children campaign also call on them to improve the prevention of
transmission of HIV from mothers to children.
Newly-appointed American Ambassador to the Holy See, Miguel Diaz said that he was honoured to be sponsoring the conference. It has brought together the United States, the largest donor to AIDS
programmes, with the Church, the largest health delivery organisation.
The conference is followed by a two day seminar for AIDS experts, church workers and humanitarians.
For
more information, please contact Michelle Hough on +39 06 69879721/+39 334 2344136 or hough@caritas.va
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Children play on a basketball hoop inside an evacuation centre in Pasig City, Metro Manila October 14, 2009. The Philippines said on Tuesday it may resort to more borrowing to fund ...
