There are 1.1 lakh HIV (estimates vary from 70,000 upwards) infected children in India, I had an opportunity to meet 56 of them today. They are being provided shelter and care by Desire Society, Hyderabad. The society is run by Mr. Ravi Babu and Ms Mohanty with support from philanthropists and government.
According to a recent finding by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) these children suffer from the ailment due to parent-to-child-transmission (PTCT). Talking to these children who are between 5-10 years of age and trying to imagine their future is at once depressing and scary. For no fault of theirs children are suffering from this horrendous, incurable and debilitating disease. Many of the children are disowned by parents once they come to know about the child’s infection, NGO’s like Desire are the only hope for them to lead a dignified life.
The whole thing comes back to the need for more focus on public health and government’s role in prevention of HIV/AIDS. Most of these children come from BPL category (almost all them belonging to the unorganized sector and daily wage earner families). I could gather from the visit that all 56 children are from BPL families.
The cost of health care for providing regular medicine and sustaining HIV infected children is very high and is a burden on a poor country like India. State Governments need to focus on Education on PTCT, improving communication approaches for prevention amongst BPL families and improve monitoring and reporting systems. Government action is not visible except for the customary noise on International Aids day.
Visit - http://desiresociety.org/
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