Chennai: Meet sheds light on schemes for HIV kids

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Meet sheds light on schemes for HIV kids

Express News Service/ Last Updated : 08 Mar 2011 09:44:40 AM IST

CHENNAI: A motley group representing non-profit organisations, dedicated to the

cause of HIV-positive persons, was informed about the various schemes being

implemented the world over for the benefit of HIV-positive children.

This was at a lecture on `Opportunities for India to Improve Health Systems to

Deliver Effective Programmes' held at the VHS Hospital by Prof Simon,

director, Centre for Global Health and Development, Boston University.

Elaborating on certain schemes in operation, Prof Simon explained their

modalities as well as the evaluation results they showed upon implementation.

The US-based professor has worked in the area of welfare of children with HIV in

more than 20 countries and would now be undertaking an 18-month project in India

where he will evaluate the success of various schemes in force.

While there were several such projects for the welfare of HIV-positive persons

the world over, there were no common solutions, he noted.

He discussed the Mchinji Cash Transfer project in Malawi, under which a monthly

cash transfer of $12 for a family of four household members was being handed

out.

" Evaluation studies of this project showed that they improved child

anthropometry and height, school enrolment and food security, while reducing

adult illness and school absences, " he noted. A similar programme was in

operation in Tamil Nadu, said Ebenezer, programme manager, Care and Support,

APAC.

Under this project, a corpus of Rs 5 crore has been set up under the Tamil Nadu

Trust for Children Affected With AIDS, the interest for which, amounting to Rs

46 lakh annually, was distributed among 1,569 children.

The lecture also dwelt upon the sensitive issue of disclosure to children of

their HIV status.

With no common ideal age for people across the world, the criteria should be the

child's cognitive ability in understanding its health situation, Professor Simon

said.

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