HIV/AIDS children face discrimination at schools and family events

[Guest guest]

HIV/AIDS children face discrimination at schools and family events

Aarti Dhar

________________________________________

Exclusion, sometimes self-imposed, to avoid mistreatment

Poverty unquestionably linked to HIV/AIDS

________________________________________

NEW DELHI: Shunned, teased, shouted and ignored in their homes and

neighbourhoods, the children affected by HIV/AIDS and their

caregivers often face exclusion from family events, ceremonies,

festivals and marriages.

According to a study, `Barriers to services for children with HIV

positive parents in five high HIV prevalence states in India', the

affected children were made to sit separately in schools, got less

attention than their classmates, and their parents' illness was used

to humiliate them.

Their classmates were told by their parents not to keep any contact

with them, and some schools bowed to public pressure and refused

admission to such children.

Study conducted

The study has been conducted by United Nations Children's Fund

(UNICEF) in association with National Aids Control Organisation

(NACO) and the Ministry of Women and Child Development in Andhra

Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland and Tamil Nadu,

where HIV-prevalence is more than one per cent.

Affected children in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu referred to the

impoverishment of their families due to HIV/AIDS, in the context of

where they lived and how they were raised.

Even for a routine (non-HIV) medical treatment, if affected children

went to a healthcare centre, they were made to sit separately, wait

until last, have nurses refuse to dress wounds or give injections, be

placed in a corridor rather than a ward, referred to another centre,

or simply turned away.

When asked about exclusion from other services, children in Nagaland

reported discrimination by anganwadi workers in giving food, while in

Maharashtra, the subsidised food grains did not reach them at all.

Fear of disease

Exclusion, sometimes, is also self-imposed by affected children or

their caregivers to avoid mistreatment and further stigmatisation.

Both affected children and caregivers said the reason for their

exclusion was other people's fear of contracting the disease, arising

from a common belief that children of HIV positive parents are

affected and can transmit the virus through casual contact.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/02/stories/2007080253700900.htm

[Guest guest]

Dear FORUM,

Can anybody share the study report `Barriers to services for children with HIV

positive parents in five high HIV prevalence states in India'

A Study conducted by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in association

with National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) and the Ministry of Women and

Child Development, please

Regards

Ramakrishna

e-mail: <drgsrk1@...>