Impediments to HIV testing in HIV-infected children and teenagers in Africa: look for them where they are!

Abstract

A huge number of HIV-infected children and teenagers have no access to care or receive it very late. Of the 3.2 million infected children, 2.8 million should be receiving highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) but only around 700,000 actually are. The first reason for this failure is the lack of HIV testing among HIV-exposed infants and thus early diagnosis or, even more frequently, the lack of testing among older children and teenagers. The objectives of this article are twofold: to review the current situation and to advocate routine offers of HIV testing to HIV-exposed children and teenagers (exposed either through mother-to-child transmission or repeated transfusions) and those suspected to be HIV-infected (because of malnutrition, tuberculosis, or other associated diseases). Finally, adults living with HIV should be made aware of the need for routine HIV screening of their children, even when asymptomatic.