Documentary brings out plight of children affected by AIDS

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Documentary brings out plight of children affected by AIDS

October 14th, 2009

Bangalore, Oct 14 (IANS) Five-year-old Savithri Kumar has vivid memories of her

loving parents, both of whom passed away due to HIV-AIDS two years ago.

" Both my parents loved me very much. I was the apple of their eyes. But

unfortunately both died, just months apart, two years ago. Doctors say both had

HIV-AIDS, " Savithri (name changed), who too is HIV positive and currently

staying with her grandmother in Bangalore, told IANS.

According to experts working in the field of HIV-AIDS, children like Savithri,

who have lost both their parents to HIV-AIDS and are themselves infected by it,

are the worst victims of the disease prevalent in the country for the last two

decades. Their plight is well brought out in the heart-rendering Kannada

documentary " A Generation Challenged " .

The film was released by Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa at the

inauguration ceremony of Ashodaya Academy, a HIV-AIDS awareness centre said to

be the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region.

The centre will be located in Mysore, 139 km from here.

The 18-minute film has been produced by Ashodaya Samiti, a Mysore-based

organisation working for the welfare and health issues of sex workers in

Karnataka and Infact Films, a film production house based in Bangalore.

" Cinema has always been a strong medium to pass on social messages. As a large

number of children are becoming orphans with both their parents suffering from

AIDS, a huge social problem is building up and it is our responsibility to deal

with the issue, " said Sushena Reza , adviser to Ashodaya Samiti.

The film looks deeper into the crisis, as to how children of infected couples

not only lose their parents but are forced to become homeless.

" Moreover, the film shows how the orphan children have to deal with social

stigma attached to the disease at a tender age. These kids are ostracised for

being HIV positive and many a time denied the right to education and right to

live a normal life, " said.

" The documentary is the first effort in visualising the impact of paediatric

AIDS in the country. The documentary deals with paediatric AIDS and its

consequences on the children and the dependent population. It also looks at two

decades of HIV prevalence in India, " said Bhagyalakshmi, secretary of Ashodaya

Samiti.

The film has been conceived and researched by Bangalore-based journalists Maya

Jaideep and Kestur Vasuki, who are working on the impact of HIV on children.

The film will soon be screened across Karnataka, as part of an awareness

campaign on HIV-AIDS by Ashodaya Samiti.

The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has termed Karnataka as a " highly

prevalent state " .

The state has 250,000 HIV-infected people and 33,000 suffering from AIDS,

according to the Karnataka State Aid Prevention Society (KSAPS). But only 22,000

of them are registered under the society.

According to experts at the KSAPS, around 30 percent of children born to

HIV-infected mothers are at risk of getting the disease if they are not part of

the Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission programmes (PPCT).

However, around 60 percent of HIV- infected mothers in the state have no access

to PPCT, a KSAPS official said.

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