AEGiS-15IAC: Children orphaned by AIDS- experiences in home and community based HIV/AIDS care and support program in coastal Andhra Pradesh, India.

15th International AIDS Conference

Bangkok, Thailand - July 11-16, 2004

Children orphaned by AIDS- experiences in home and community based HIV/AIDS care and support program in coastal Andhra Pradesh, India.

Int Conf AIDS 2004 Jul 11-16; 15:(abstract no. E10149)

Nazeem MD
Vasavya Mahila Mandali, Vijayawada, India

ISSUE: In Andhra Pradesh the Care and Support program has estimated that there is more number of children living or deceased HIV - infected mothers. Of these majority have already been orphaned. The mothers of the overwhelming majority of these children are suffering from HIV - related illness and lack the physical strength or family and financial support to take care of their children. All these children face deprivation and orphan hood in the years ahead.

DESCRIPTION: The consequent trauma that the children face after the death of the HIV affected parent is more intensive than that of any child who looses their parent by natural death. The children's distress is often compounded by the prejudice and social exclusion directed at individuals with HIV and their families. This stigma may translate into denial of access to schooling, health care and of the inheritance rights of orphaned children. In this respect girls may be at a further disadvantage.

LESSONS LEARNT: The extended family is the traditional social security system in which orphaned children by AIDS, to be taken in by aunts and uncles or even grand parents, who may have little income and may have been counting themselves on being supported by the very son or daughter who dies of AIDS. Financial pressures on those least able to afford them have inevitably increased. The relation between HIV/AIDS impoverishment and denial of human rights is apparent is the impact of the epidemic on children who have been orphaned by AIDS.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Emergency material support and vocational training for these orphans. INGOs are helping to place orphans in foster homes and provide training and assistance. More focus on farm projects, secondary education and housing for AIDS - affected families. Finance is an important consideration. Involvement in these orphaned children is necessary for a stable future, both for the children themselves and for their communities.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Foster Home Care, HIV Seropositivity, HIV Infections, Demography, Housing, Family, Human Rights, Child Rearing, Child Care, Research, India, Child, Humans, Female, economics, education

040711
E10149