PEPFAR has been in touch with ViiV and Merck & Co., Inc., about their commitments to make pediatric drugs available to LMIC. The companies confirmed their intention to provide them at access pricing until generics were available, and potentially beyond.

 

On February 9, 2018, PEPFAR convened over fifty technical experts in Washington, D.C. to address challenges in pediatric HIV case finding, and specifically identification of pre-adolescent children with HIV before they present to facilities with illness. Specifically, the meeting focused on finding younger asymptomatic children living with HIV (<10-12 years old) outside the usual facility-based testing (PITC) and routine PMTCT programs with special interest in using OVC, faith-based, school, and other community platforms. This remains a significant issue for all implementing partners. By the end of the meeting the group developed recommendations for: Effective strategies that can be widely adopted, perhaps with adaptation to context; Strategies that show promise in pilot or small-scale, which should be further evaluated and/or scaled up; and Creative, novel ideas that can be piloted and tested.

On March 29, 2018, PEPFAR convened diagnostics companies, donors, and select implementing partners for a one-day Consultation meeting in New York City on shared issues related to pediatric treatment such as strategies to improve access to HIV (and TB) diagnostics for infants and children in lower middle income countries (LMICs). This meeting served as a follow-on meeting to the November 2017 High-Level Dialogue on Scaling-Up Early Diagnosis and Treatment of Children and Adolescents. The meeting ended up with concrete action items for diagnostic manufacturers to address to ensure cost efficient and uninterrupted diagnosis services for Children and Adolescents.