The world's biggest AIDS conference closed in Sydney last Wednesday with a call for antiretroviral drugs developed specifically for HIV-infected children.

An estimated 2.3 million children are HIV infected, with around 600,000 new infections each year. Without treatment half of all babies infected will die before their second birthday. Now, only about 15 percent of HIV infected children receive antiretroviral drugs.

Children now receive adult-designed drugs in cut-down dosages. "Most of the world has been forced to split adult tablets into child-size pieces," said Dr Annette Sohn, an expert from the pediatric infectious diseases division at the University of California in San Francisco. Under or overdoses can lead to treatment failure or put children’s health to risk.

“No one should die of malaria. We are here to save people from dying of malaria,” said former US President Bill Clinton in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday.  He was in the Tanzanian capital to speak at the launch of an Artemisinin based Combination Therapies (ACT) pilot program. 95 % of the drug cost will be subsidized to make the drug available to even the poorest people.

The program is a joint effort of the Clinton Foundation for HIV/AIDS Initiative joins, the government of Tanzania, Population Services International (PSI) and receives support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In the two pilot regions, an ACT dose  will be available for about 25 dollar cents in government hospitals, compared to 10 dollars at private chemists.