Vienna - The Roman Catholic charity network Caritas called on pharmaceutical companies Monday to develop affordable drugs specifically for children with HIV/AIDS, many of whom die before their second birthday.

Lesley-Anne Knight, the secretary general of the Rome-based organisation, said in a statement released in Vienna that one third of adult HIV-positive adults, but only 15 per cent of infected children worldwide, had access to anti-retroviral drugs, which can delay the onset of AIDS.

"We therefore ask pharmaceutical companies to develop child-friendly medication and to sell them at affordable prices. We call on governments to support this research," Knight said.

Caritas and other Catholic organisations provide around a quarter of medical AIDS relief in Africa.

Children under the age of 15 accounted for 2.1 million of the 33.2 million people living with HIV in 2007, according to a joint report by the World Health Organization and several other UN agencies published in April.

Of these children, 90 per cent lived in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2007, some 420,000 children were infected with the virus globally and 290,000 died of AIDS, according to the report.