Need tailormade counselling for HIV+

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Need tailormade counselling for HIV+

R Vasundara, TNN, Aug 23, 2010, 05.35am IST

CHENNAI: Their future had appeared bleak. With no medical treatment or hope of

life, HIV positive children had little to look forward to. But more than two

decades after the deadly disease was first detected in Chennai, several babies

now have a chance of survival into adulthood thanks to medical regimen and

better nutrition.

When the Indian government began the national Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) for

HIV patients in 2004, the programme was a godsend to many infected patients who

had even given up on the idea of survival.

" Before the ART programme began, morbidity and mortality rate for HIV positive

patients were high, " says Dr P Manorama, chairperson of the Child Welfare

Committee (CWC), who runs a home for HIV positive children in Chennai.

Today, mortality levels have significantly reduced, from 13 % in 2005 to 8 % in

2010, according to the Tamil Nadu State Aids Control Society (TANSACS).

But all the medical and financial aid given by the government is not enough to

offset the need for emotional support for the patients, especially children

infected with HIV. According to statistics furnished by TANSACS, there are

11,197 children living with HIV in the state today and a sizeable number among

them are adolescents.

Daisy of World Vision, an NGO working with HIV positive teenagers, says

there is a large segment of children born with the disease, who have today

reached their adolescence. " Children living with HIV have the same exposure to

society and media as other children, " she points out. " They too grow up with

ambitions and desires.

However, the discussions provided by the government are inadequate. They not

only need counseling on career ambitions and how to battle life on the

professional front, but also on the changes their bodies undergo and their own

desires regarding sex, marriage and companionship. "

Counselling HIV teenagers about marriage and companionship is rather difficult.

" There is need for counsellors who are equipped to handle all kinds of issues

and emotions, " says Dr. Lakshmibai, project director for Tamil Nadu Aids

Initiative (TAI).

" Many of them would like to marry non-infected persons, so there is always the

issue of acceptance and rejection, " says Daisy, who had recently attended a

workshop for HIV-infected adolescents in Manipur. " At Manipur, I met a teenaged

boy who was battling rejection after his girlfriend found out he was HIV

positive.

They all had questions as to whether they could have sexual intercourse with

non-infected persons, whether the babies born out of such a bonding would also

be infected. The very fact that they needed to ask these questions shows that

they are not receiving this kind of information or counselling. "

The other issue that social workers stress on is a tailor-made counselling

program for drug adherence. According to statistics furnished by the TNSAC,

until June 2010, 3,298 people had not returned to their respective ART centres

for their regular treatment for a period of one to three months. And 1,192

persons had not returned to the ART centres for treatment in a period of one to

three months.

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