Press Releases

October 26, 2007. Lusaka

U.S. Government-supported Pediatric Anti-Retroviral Treatment Program in Zambia Receives Attention in World-renowned Medical Journal

LUSAKA – A new study in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showcases specific U.S.-funded pediatric care and treatment services, which have yielded favorable results in HIV positive Zambian children.  

The JAMA article, which was released October 24, noted that an estimated 130,000 Zambian children are infected with HIV, with 25,000 to 30,000 in urgent need of anti-retroviral therapy (ART).  Without treatment, nearly half could die by their second birthday.

The article highlights a program, funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which focused on 18 government health facilities in Lusaka for the past three years.  Nearly 5,000 children were seen, and nearly 3,000 received ART.  Of the nearly 3,000 on ART only 198 died.  More than half of these deaths were within 90 days of beginning therapy, pointing to a need for earlier diagnosis and treatment.

The program to expand the pediatric treatment program at primary health facilities within the Lusaka Urban Health District began in 2004 as a collaboration between the Zambian Ministry of Health (MOH), the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), Columbia University, and the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ).

The article credits several factors for the success of this program, including decentralized services which allowed primary health care workers to provide services directly, and the Zambian Government’s firm commitment rapidly scaling up pediatric care. Finally, technical support provided by the collaborative partners allowed an under-resourced health-care system to develop high-quality and effective AIDS treatment services for a large number of children in Lusaka.

Authors of the study included Dr. Marc Bulterys (CDC-Zambia), Dr. Albert Mwango (MOH), Dr. Moses Sinkala (ex-MOH), Dr. Chipepo Kankasa (UTH Lusaka), Dr. Jeffrey S.A. Stringer (CIDRZ-Lusaka), and Dr. Elaine Abrams (Columbia University).
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