Cohort Profile: The Paediatric Antiretroviral Treatment Programmes in Lower-Income Countries (KIDS-ART-LINC) Collaboration

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Abstract
The Paediatric Antiretroviral Treatment Programmes in Lower-Income Countries (KIDS-ART-LINC) collaboration (see Appendix for details) is an international epidemiological network in sub-Saharan Africa. The paediatric HIV burden is currently estimated at 2.3 million (1.7–3.5 million) children under 15 years of age worldwide, 90% of them living in sub-Saharan Africa.1 Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) is an essential part of the overall strategy to fight the HIV pandemic, and has, since 1996, led to substantial reduction in HIV-related morbidity and mortality in children in industrialized nations.2,,3 However, paediatric HIV care and ART programmes have not reached most resource-poor settings, particularly in Africa. Simplified models, developed to deliver drugs to large numbers of people generally focus on adults and have rarely addressed ART in children.4 An estimated 780 000 children were in need of ART in 2006 and only 10% of them received it.5 The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently updated its guidelines for ART use in resource-limited settings with a specific focus on children,6 stressing the need to build up and share local expertise in managing HIV-infected children. To date, little data is available on paediatric HIV care and treatment in Africa7–13 and furthermore, there is a lack of scientifically rigorous evaluation of the limited number of paediatric ART programmes.14,,15