Scientists at Bradford University working on treatment for children with HIV have made an appeal for funding to help the project continue.

The Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation, based at the university, has said it needs to raise £25,000 to continue work into replacing medicines that are not suitable.

It aims to produce drugs in granular form which will be easier for children to take and more suitable in countries where temperatures rise above 40C than the liquid form of medication.

Programme manager Riddhi Shukla said: “What we want to do is make better HIV medicines for children.

“The ones that are currently available are not suitable in hot countries.

“We have been working on it for a year and we need another six months to get this formulation ready.

“Once it is ready we can do some clinical trials to show that the granules work better than what is currently available. We take life for granted and this is about seeing what we can do to alleviate the suffering.”

She said funding for the work had run out and so the institute had started a fundraising campaign to allow it to continue. She said: “I’m looking at raising £25,000 to carry the work on.”

The scientists will be holding a range of fundraising events, including cake sales and sponsored runs, and has also set up a JustGiving website, where people can donate money to the project.

The World Health Organisation estimated 2.1 million children were living with HIV or Aids at the end of 2007.

It has been estimated 1,500 children become infected every day.

Scientists at the IPI have said current suspension or syrup medicines are not suitable due to a number of reasons, including doses needs to be done six to eight times a day, crowded orphanages may struggle to make sure each child is receiving the correct dose and there are difficulties in keeping the medicines at the correct 20C in countries where poverty means electricity or refrigeration is difficult to produce.

Shital Maru, a pharmacist from Kenya, has been working on the project in Bradford for the past year. She said: “We would be looking to give it to a pharmaceutical company to scale up this progress, where they can cost effectively manufacture these drugs and then they can give it out.

“These drugs are actually free to HIV patients all over the world and we are looking at fixing these combinations of drugs together.”

To donate to the project, go to justgiving.com/giveHIVchildrenhope.