| My name is Vanessa Rouzier and I'm a pediatrician working at the GHESKIO centers in Haiti and, as a pediatrician, I hope that pediatric issues will be brought to the forefront at this conference, so we can share among the region about our successes and ways to move forward for pediatric AIDS. AIDS is a preventable illness in children and there is a lot of effort that needs to be done so we can increase our strategies to help prevent the transmission of the virus from mothers to children, and decrease the social stigma for mothers seeking care, and therefore allowing for fewer children to be infected. Also, we need to discuss pediatric specific interventions for caring for children infected with AIDS, and we should not continue to model on adult interventions that may not necessarily be appropriate for children. We should develop family centered approaches that are more adequately addressing pediatric issues in the region. |
