Andhra Pradesh minister adopts HIV-positive children

January 10, 2007

Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:01 PM IST

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - A minister in Andhra Pradesh, the state

that has the country's largest number of HIV cases, has adopted two

boys infected with the virus after their parents died due to AIDS.

M. Mareppa, minister for minor irrigation works in Andhra Pradesh,

said on Wednesday he took the decision after hearing that Veeraswamy,

6, and his brother Prasad, 4 did not have anything to eat after their

parents' died.

" I have organised to send them to a residential school for the poor

and also registered as their guardian and foster father, " he told

Reuters.

The boys' street-vendor father and mother died last week.

Andhra Pradesh accounts for 1.5 million of India's 5.7 million people

living with HIV/AIDS, which according to the United Nations, is the

world's highest caseload.

Mareppa has already adopted five other HIV-infected children who have

lost their parents.

All the children belong to Mareppa's home district of Kurnool, about

225 km southwest of Hyderabad.

Several cases of discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients have been

reported in India in recent months, especially of schools turning

away infected children.

In September last year, a man with full-blown AIDS in eastern India

was stoned by villagers, who were scared he would spread the HIV

infection. The 35-year-old man died later of his injuries.

type=topNews & storyID=2007-01-10T185419Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-

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