The world's biggest AIDS conference closed in Sydney last Wednesday with a call for antiretroviral drugs developed specifically for HIV-infected children.

An estimated 2.3 million children are HIV infected, with around 600,000 new infections each year. Without treatment half of all babies infected will die before their second birthday. Now, only about 15 percent of HIV infected children receive antiretroviral drugs.

Children now receive adult-designed drugs in cut-down dosages. "Most of the world has been forced to split adult tablets into child-size pieces," said Dr Annette Sohn, an expert from the pediatric infectious diseases division at the University of California in San Francisco. Under or overdoses can lead to treatment failure or put children’s health to risk.

On June 16, 1976, thousands of black students from Soweto, South Africa took to the streets to demand better education and the right to learn in their own language.  Hundreds were shot down and the violence led to days of rioting known as the Soweto Uprising. The spirit and courage of those youth is remembered annually as the Day of the African Child. Child Trafficking is the focus this year. We will provide coverage next week from many of the events taking place, but today I wanted to share a poem written as part of a writing contest we held with the UN Cybershoolbus.  This was submitted by Nkeiru, a child from Nigeria.

The moment I hear them mention poverty
My mind reminds me of the future
there is no future with poverty
it is a lost future in the face of poverty