Observing the Zambian campaign against HIV/AIDS one easily notices that VCT treatment and care have mainly been concentrated on the adult population to make personal decisions excluding the children. No deliberate programs have been put in place to encourage parents to take their children for VCT, a starting point for ART treatment and care. The only program that seems to focus on children is the prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT). As a result, most children born before the PMTCT role out program have had no chance of their status being established.

Currently many mothers who have tested and are taking Anti Retroviral Drugs (ARVs), have not taken their children for VCT. Some of these children were born outside the PMTCT program, yet their parents have not taken initiative of taking them for VCT. This may be as a result of most messages on VCT and HIV in the media are also tailored to suit the needs of adults, to the disadvantage of pediatrics that are unable to make such decisions on their own, as a result children die of AIDS when they could have lived longer, if they were given ARVS. Maybe the child negligence in the VCT child campaign could be the old notion that children born with HIV die before their first birthday


This problem has been mainly due to lack of education and pediatric VCT/CTC community educators who can in many ways help spread messages and empower parents and communities with knowledge on pediatric VCT/CTC thus reducing information gaps between health centers and the communities. These gaps of information between the health service providers and the community have led parents not to see and realize the need of children to access services like VCT even when these services are already available, free and within their reach. Other specific services may include home based care and nutrition support groups.