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The missing face of AIDS
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Tamil Nadu is among the six HIV hotspots in India. And children are the worst affected, says HEMA VIJAY on World AIDS Day
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A BRAVE FRONT After the initial shock, most children adopt a positive attitude towards their condition
Society tends to count them as statistics, but they are flesh and blood survivors of perhaps the worst devastating disease mankind has seen. And the tragedy today is, children form the missing face of AIDS. Children bear the brunt of it, either as the HIV infected or as AIDS orphans.
Take three-year-old Ashok and two-year-old Anupama of Anna Nagar. Their father is no more, having succumbed to the disease four years ago, leaving behind his wife Monica and two children infected. "It was when my husband was hospitalised for repeated fevers that we came to know about this infection. The news that he had passed on the infection to our entire family killed him off in a hurry," says Monica. Today, she derives support from World Vision's Chennai Integrated HIV AIDS Care (CIHAC) project.
According NACO, every single day, almost 1,800 children under 15 become HIV-positive while another 1,400 die of AIDS-related illnesses. An additional 6,000 young people aged 15-24 acquire the virus every day. Around 15 million children have already become AIDS orphans, having lost one or both parents to AIDS. Chennai is no exception to this estimate. In fact, Tamil Nadu is among the six hard hit States of India, while India figures among the HIV hotspots in the world.
Positive attitude
These children may be HIV positive and aware of their condition as well, but they turn out into very, very positive people, eventually, after the initial period of shock. "We encourage the parents to tell children because this makes treatment easier", says Dr. Suniti Solomon, YRG Centre for AIDS Research and Education. And forget it, AIDS does not happen only to truck drivers and their families, contrary to popular perception. "It is a behaviour-based disease, and behaviour is the same across all divides," says Dr. Suniti Solomon. Another cause for concern lately is the increasing number of people contracting HIV infection through use of intra venal (injected) drugs. "Over the last two years, we have been seeing an increasing number of infected IVD users, men mostly, stepping into our counselling centre," says Christopher Baskeran, World Vision, which has been working with women and children rendered destitute by HIV infection, and this includes both infected and affected persons.
The devastation of AIDS is that the disease blows away your protective immunity shield, so you fall sick to the slightest of infections and become weak. There is no single big challenge that these people face; it is more like an swirling ocean of challenges — loss of health, loss of job, social stigma, guilt complex on passing on the disease and loneliness. Surviving wives and children who are HIV positive get thrown out by their families even before their husbands' last rites are over, say community workers.
Amid all this, there are groups like the Indian Network for People with HIV (INP+) and the Positive Women Network of South India (PWN) who have set up a supporting network for the HIV infected and the HIV affected. A few others find relief and strength through group living. World Vision, for instance, runs a short stay home for women and children who have become destitute because of the disease. Infected women and children live together for six months to a year in these homes and later move into groups of two and three and attempt to live life independently, with the support of each other.
"The availability of cheaper retroviral drugs has been a wonderful development and has been extending the life span of the infected and bringing down AIDS related mortality significantly," says Baskeran. "The biggest challenge today is in scaling up of anti-HIV treatment and our prerogative now is to get the anti-discriminatory National HIV AIDS Bill passed, which can make medical treatment of HIV infection cheaper," adds Dr. K. K. Abraham, INP+. Those in the 18-25 age group are most vulnerable, he says.
Need for acceptance
The UNAIDS campaign for this year goes, `Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise'. While this is an appeal to governments and policy makers, individuals like us can pitch in by one simple thing: accepting the HIV infected in our social structure, rather than stigmatising them.
For further information, counselling and support, please contact World Vision: 26201644 / 26201645, YRG Centre For AIDS Research & Education, 2254 / 2929, Positive Women Network of South India (PWN) 2827 0204 / 28203959, Indian Network for People with HIV (INP+) 24329580 / 24329882, Hope Foundation 24463394 / 24463403.
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Myths and facts
HIV is spread through semen and vaginal fluids during unprotected sex without the use of condoms, homosexual contact, sharing of needles and transfusion, and during pregnancy, delivery and breast feeding. AIDS is not synonymous with sexual promiscuousness.
HIV is not spread through ordinary social contact; for example, by shaking hand, travelling in the same bus, eating from the same utensils, by hugging or kissing. Mosquitoes and insects do not spread the virus nor is it water-borne or air-borne.
It is safe to work with someone infected with HIV.
Most workers face no risk of getting the virus while doing their work. If they have the virus themselves, they are not a risk to others during the course of their work.
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