Team PATA

PATA Background

In Africa there are now over 2.3 million children infected with HIV. Without treatment, these children face the deadly consequences of AIDS. Currently, fewer than 5% have access to lifesaving medical treatment. The vast majority of children lag far behind adults in gaining access to the roll-out of anti-retroviral treatment (ARVs). It's hard to comprehend, but a child dies from an AIDS related illness every minute of every day.

PATA strives to enhance the quality of health care, holistic treatment and comprehensive support for HIV/AIDS children, their families and for communities throughout Africa.

UNICEF has called for action to give 80% of children access to medical treatment by 2010. To each this target, we need to overcome the following challenges:

Access to clinics: Many are located in remote areas, making it very difficult for adolescents to get to them. Treatment teams need vehicles to get patients to the clinics.

Access to treatment: There are simply not enough paediatric AIDS clinics in Africa to help all the children. We need more skilled staff in better equipped clinics to treat and support children, their families and communities in an effective manner.

Adherence to treatment: Anti-retroviral treatment is a life saver, but only if the strict treatment schedule is adhered to. This is something which is difficult for children to do, especially when there is little support or supervision.

Acumen: There are not enough skilled nurses, doctors, counselors/ psychologists and pharmacists to care for children. More staff need to be trained throughout sub-Saharan Africa to enable enough clinics to open.

Telephones, computers, playgrounds and other general supplies: Basic needs such as telephones, safe play areas for children and computer systems to keep track of adherence to clinic attendance and collection of medicine are lacking in many clinics.

PATA is working to find an answer to these and the many other challenges faced by clinics by bringing together inter-disciplinary treatment teams to discuss these difficulties and to make plans for overcoming them.

PATA teams meet annually at a conference now called 'The PATA Forum' to address these and any other pressing issues. For further details on previous PATA forums, read through the PATA conference section in this website.