Getting the "Three in One"

Last week one of our patients reached a milestone. His mother died a few years ago. His aunt is now his mother. He has been coming to our clinic every 2 months to get his medicines which he will take for the rest of his life. Because of his age and weight, he fell in exactly the wrong category. The category of children who have to take 2 pills every morning and night and many mililiters of liquid twice a day. Well, last week he reached the magic number 25 kilograms. He can now take one pill twice a day. This is a huge step for him and for his "mom", who no longer has to measure out the syrup for him each day. More and more, "three in one" pills or in medical lingo, "fixed dose combinations" are becoming popular here. But of course all the pills come in adult sizes and it takes another bit of time to get pediatric dosed pills. We can thank the Clinton Foundation who works hard to procure the pediatric fixed dose combinations for us. Lets hope more simple solutions can be figured out in order to make big changes in the lives of those living with HIV.