The impact of health programmes to prevent vertical transmission of HIV. Advances, emerging health challenges and research priorities for children exposed to or living with HIV: Perspectives from South Africa.

The impact of health programmes to prevent vertical transmission of HIV. Advances, emerging health challenges and research priorities for children exposed to or living with HIV: Perspectives from South Africa. S Afr Med J. 2019 Dec 05;109(11b):77-82 Authors: Goga A, Slogrove A, Wedderburn CJ, Feucht U, Wessels J, Ramokolo V, Bhana A, Du Plessis N, Green RJ, Pillay Y, Sherman G Abstract Over the past three decades, tremendous global progress in preventing and treating paediatric HIV infection has been achieved. This paper highlights the emerging health challenges of HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) children and the ageing population of children living with HIV (CLHIV), summarises programmatic opportunities for care, and highlights currently conducted research and remaining research priorities in high HIV-prevalence settings such as South Africa. Emerging health challenges amongst HEU children and CLHIV include preterm delivery, suboptimal growth, neurodevelopmental delay, mental health challenges, infectious disease morbidity and mortality, and acute and chronic respiratory illnesses including tuberculosis, pneumonia, bronchiectasis and lymphocytic interstitial pneumonitis. CLHIV and HEU children require three different categories of care: (i) optimal routine child health services applicable to all children; (ii) routine care currently provided to all HEU children and CLHIV, such as HIV testing or viral load monitoring, respectively, and ...
Source: South African Medical Journal - Category: African Health Tags: S Afr Med J Source Type: research