Many people in the world find it difficult to care for HIV-positive children. Some parents whom we interviewed for purposes of writing this story said that their children keeps on asking them why they give them medicine even when they are not sick.
Doctors tell us that the appetite for some of the children with HIV is low. Sometimes parents force their children to eat so that they don’t take medication on empty stomachs.”
The biggest worry of most parents is how to disclose to their children that they are HIV-positive. According to the statistics by the Ministry of Health in Uganda, about 20,000 to 24,000 children in the country are infected with HIV every year. The statistics further indicate that about 76,000 of Uganda children are in need of ARVs and about 24,417 children are already on treatment. In Uganda, every pregnant mother is screened for HIV. The doctors make sure that they find out whether she is HIV positive and if yes they study her CD4 count. HIV pregnant mothers are put on a preventive drug (prophylaxis) at 14 weeks to reduce the amount of virus in their blood.
During labour, an HIV pregnant woman on prophylaxis is given two more drugs, Niverapine and lamuvedine and after delivery, she is put on combivir (Lamivudne and zidovudine) for a week.
Her baby or babies are immediately put on Niverapine syrup until a week. The syrup helps the babies neutralise any virus that could have crossed to their bodies.
Dr. Michael Juma, who is the head of clinic paediatric HIV/AIDS at Baylor-Uganda, says that the baby is also put on Septrin to prevent bacterial infections, and if found positive, is started on ARVs.
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