Pediatric HIV Network Reaches Thai Citizens with a Message of Hope

October 2011

Along with treatment, network sites offer lessons for both the young patients and their caregivers on such topics as sex education and the proper care and treatment of HIV-positive people in the home.

Treatment of kids with HIV is particularly difficult because their medication dosages must often be adjusted. Thanks to the Pediatric HIV Quality Care Network, supported in part by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more families are able to receive care near their homes. The network is built around a model for comprehensive pediatric HIV treatment that was created by a Thai pediatrician, Dr. Rawiwan Hansudewechakul. Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and CDC’s Global AIDS Program teamed up to expand the model to community clinics in nearly half of Thailand’s 77 provinces.