The
Asian Age: Mumbai: Sunday, 03 January 2016.
Raghu, a
three-year-old from Narole, has been diagnosed with HIV infection and is
currently staying with a local NGO. Sadly, both of Raghu’s parents, who were
HIV-infected, did not opt for treatment even when Raghu was conceived owing to
social stigma. Which is why, the HIV virus got transmitted into Raghu and he is
now under continuous medication at ART Centre.
“Due to
social stigma, Raghu’s parents did not take any medical precautionary measures
to save their children from the infection. The child was delivered at home to
save themselves from the shame,” said Bharat Tamang, project manager, Desire,
an NGO working for HIV-infected children.
According to
World Health Organisation (WHO), though the number of HIV infections in India
has decreased, every month, 33 children in the age group of 1 to 18 years get
registered as new HIV infection cases in Mumbai. And many of these infected
children aged 1 to 14 years succumb to HIV. Every month, five children die
because of HIV infection in Mumbai. In the past five years between 2011 and
2015 (November), nearly 300 children have succumbed to HIV infection in the
city. A Right to Information (RTI) application filed by The Asian Age has
revealed these statistics.
Mr Tamang
said, “The government provides medicines for free at ART centres but no
attention is paid to the nutrition level of the child. If a child is hungry,
will he be interested in consuming medicine or food? Children should be
provided with a nutrition kit as it helps in making their immunity stronger.
There have been incidences where hungry children have taken medicines with a
cup of tea.”
If a pregnant
woman is diagnosed with HIV, from the time of diagnosis till 18 months after
delivery, she, along with her child, needs to be under continuous medication.
HIV expert Dr
Ram Malkani said, “If a pregnant HIV woman takes proper medication, chances of
transferring the infection to the child decrease by 80 per cent. Also, it is
essential to follow up with ART centres to do the required tests until the child
turns 18 months’ old. Incomplete testing will not reveal the medical condition
of the child which can later prove fatal.”
However, as
per RTI data, there is a huge discrepancy in the number of pregnant women
diagnosed with HIV and the number of such women who continue with testing of
their newborn babies till 18 months. In 2014, 270 pregnant women were diagnosed
with HIV while only 58 per cent of them followed it up with testing of their
children till 18 months. In 2015 however, the percentage increased to 80. Till
November 2015, 209 pregnant women were diagnosed with HIV, out of which, 172
made regular follow ups.
Additional
project director, Mumbai District Aids Control Society, Shrikala Acharya, said,
“The number of deaths has gone down drastically. In 2013, it was in three
digits but now, it has come down to two digits.”
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