Ernest's Story
Julie is a happy, composed, and proud mother of her only child, Ernest. When Ernest became sick in 2004, he was put on treatment for tuberculosis. Julie, though, suspected that her son might be infected with HIV. She had lost both a child and her husband to AIDS in the mid-‘90s.
Ernest was diagnosed with HIV in December 2004, at age 11, at the Family Support Unit at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia. After receiving news that her son was HIV-positive, Julie discussed the results with him to ensure that he understood his diagnosis. Ernest got it. Quite soon after, he took seventh grade examinations and scored the highest marks at his school. He told his mother: “I am not intelligent for nothing, Mummy. I know everything. All I don’t want is to be treated differently. I should be treated like any other child.”
In February 2006, baseline tests were performed to monitor the progression of the disease, and it was discovered that Ernest’s CD4 count was 93 cells/ul. With a t-cell count that low, Ernest was referred to the University Teaching Hospital’s Pediatric Antiretroviral Treatment Clinic and was enrolled into care on March 3, 2006. Today, at 15 years old, he is still active on treatment, and his CD4 count has increased to 976 cells/ul.
Ernest has a wonderful outlook on life, and he desires to help others in need. Today, he encourages other HIV-positive children to lead normal lives like any other child without the infection. He has high aspirations for his future, and he would like to continue his studies and become a cancer researcher.
Ernest is one of approximately 8,000 children that have ever received care and treatment for HIV/AIDS at the Pediatric Center of Excellence (PCOE) at University Teaching Hospital. The PCOE, an entity of the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, is supported by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the International Training Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP) of Columbia University. PCOE implements a family-centered, multidisciplinary team approach and provides comprehensive care and treatment for these children. In addition, the department has adopted routine HIV testing for all admitted patients. Currently, 90 percent of children and caretakers admitted are counseled and 99 percent of those agree to be tested. The PCOE, with support from ICAP, has become a model program for other health facilities in the country in providing multidisciplinary, long-term care to one of the most important populations – children and adolescents.
In Zambia, the Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) and UNITAID, an international funding facility that helps increase access to drugs to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, currently purchase and procure all the pediatric formulations used in the country. CHAI and UNITAID also are procuring early infant testing supplies and supporting the training of health care workers at the PCOE as well as other government health centers. This training enables health care workers to diagnose and treat pediatric HIV so that other children, like Ernest, have access to the testing and treatment services they require.
Read press release announcing 2 million people accessing CHAI pricing.
