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Accelerating- Prevention
eForum

Children living with HIV

With the advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART) over the past years, more children born with HIV are growing into adolescence and adulthood. In previous times, it was thought children born with HIV would not survive for long. Reports show that many of them did not make it past their fifth birthday, but some survived.

A study conducted by the Wellcome Trust at a clinic in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, revealed that at least one in four such children may survive into adolescence.

While the fact that more HIV positive children are living longer is a positive development for southern Africa, there are many challenges associated with this development.

By virtue of being born with HIV, this group of children is faced with several special challenges. Most people are unaware that there are adolescent HIV survivors, infected at birth, and assume that one must have had sex in order to be HIV positive. The children paradoxically are virgins and HIV positive. This common assumption itself leads to stigmatisation, as health workers, teachers and others may assume that the child has been sexually active.

Young people living with HIV (PLHIV) face not only the uncertainty brought about by the changes in their bodies as they mature into adolescence, and the new excitement generated by relationships with the opposite sex, but must also deal with other issues that come with being HIV positive, such as disclosure.

As children grow older, they will begin to have relationships with the opposite sex; at what point does an HIV positive child disclose his or her status to a partner – before a kiss, or after? This is an additional burden that children living with HIV need to be counselled about, to help them negotiate the thorny pathway of adolescence and their growing sexual maturity. Disclosing their status to everyone is unlikely to be a sound option, but disclosure comes along with the risk of rejection, and after rejection the possibility of ridicule and public exposure.

It would hardly be surprising if children lacking the necessary support chose to keep their knowledge to themselves, resulting in their possibly not taking the necessary precautions when they do decide to experiment sexually and so putting themselves and their partners at risk of re-infection and infection.

In schools and colleges and even in the setting of the extended family, it may be difficult for young PLHIV to get the necessary support. Instead, many find themselves being stigmatised.

Even if they decide not to have sex until after marriage, these young people face a special challenge, as disclosing an HIV positive status may lead to rejection by a prospective partner and even by their family.

The unavailability of treatment in some countries is also an issue the children may have to face. Out of an estimated 2.3 million children living with HIV in Africa, fewer than five percent (115,000) have access to life-saving medical treatment.

According to UNICEF (2008), AIDS will not be halted until young people have the knowledge and capacity to avoid behaviours that put them at risk. But the only way they can do this is if they fully understand that among them, some are already positive.

Story Ideas:

There is need for the media to conscientise people on this development where children born with HIV or infected after birth are living into their teens or adulthood. While it is generally believed that people are now well informed about HIV, some people are still complacent and ignorant of certain issues. There is need for awareness campaigns so that people are aware that one can be born HIV positive and grow into adulthood still living with HIV.

The danger with such a scenario is that as children born with HIV grow, they may start to indulge in sexual activity. If there is limited information, there is a chance of spreading HIV and re-infection may also occur in the process. The media can play a crucial role by disseminating information and educating communities on the consequences.

HIV affects young people, with young adults aged between 15 and 24 years accounting for half of the five million new cases of HIV infection worldwide each year. Despite this, young people often lack the information, skills and services they need to protect themselves from HIV infection. Providing these is crucial to turning back the epidemic.

Children living with HIV suffer from many challenges that include lack of support. The media can advocate and raise awareness about the need to support these children and educate them on what they need to do as they grow older and decide to get married.

The media also needs to deal with issues of stigma and discrimination for these children. Some of the issues that the media can tease out include; How can affected and infected people deal with stigma and discrimination? What are the coping mechanisms? How can they avoid self stigma which is rampant among children and adolescents living with HIV? How should members of the community respond to the needs of these children and how can they support them?

Voices of children living with HIV are not adequately heard. The media should ensure that they provide a platform for adolescents to speak out so that their voices are heard. In this way, other children may learn from others and be encouraged to behave in positive ways.

SOURCES