NCJ Number
129708
Journal
International Journal of Health Services Volume: 20 Issue: 4 Dated: (1990) Pages: 617-630
Date Published
1990
Length
14 pages
Annotation
The demographic distribution of pediatric AIDS cases in the United States is examined, and the respective public policies for each age group are analyzed.
Abstract
Approximately two percent of all AIDS cases in the United States are pediatric AIDS cases. Three age groups are affected with distinct transmission patterns: infants and young children infected through perinatal transmission, school-age children mostly hemophiliacs infected through blood transfusion, and teenagers infected through sexual activity or intravenous drug use. Present government policies have focused on the few cases involving school attendance of primarily middle-class children and have ignored the 75 percent of perinatally transmitted cases of poor, urban minorities. The disease is clearly correlated to other indicators of poor child health such as urban poverty and oppressive social conditions. Moreover, school-based prevention efforts for adolescents have met with moralistic opposition to explicit sex and drug abuse education. Prevention of perinatal and adolescent HIV transmission must be sensitive to and relevant to communities in which the greatest threat to survival is poverty. Ultimately, the goals of pediatric AIDS equal those of child health advocates: improvement of health, education, and welfare of the children. 3 tables and 60 references (Author abstract modified)