Children with AIDS Pose Difficult Challenges

Every day, nearly 1,800 children under the age of 15 are newly infected with HIV worldwide. And each day, 1,400 die of AIDS-related illnesses. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than 85 percent of the world's children living with HIV/AIDS. Raising HIV-positive children can be a daunting task, as they have special needs and conditions different from HIV-positive adults.

John is like many 10-year-old boys. His eyes twinkle with mischief as he makes funny faces at his baby sister, causing the infant to break out in peals of laughter while their mother Brenda looks on.

But in other ways, the challenges John face make him much older than his years. Every day of his life, he has to take medicine to stay alive. There are times when the HIV in his system ravages his small body, bringing him close to death.

Brenda (not her real name) is also HIV positive, as is her husband. She describes to VOA what it is like to raise an HIV-positive child.

"Sometimes, I tell you, he gets moody," she said. "Sometimes you have to understand because sometimes it also happens to me. From you, he will learn that things have to go this way. It's all up to us, the parents he's looking up to. We really have to set an example and know that, it's not anything, it's just a way of life and we accept it and we carry on. He's OK, he's a strong boy, he eats well. I thank God and I say, it's up to me, let me look for this food and make sure that he eats."

John is one of an estimated 150,000 children in Kenya living with HIV/AIDS. The majority are infected either in the womb, during labor, or through breastfeeding.

Raising an HIV-positive child can be a daunting task. These children have special needs and conditions different from HIV-positive adults, and must be cared for accordingly.

Dr. Robert Nyarango is a pharmacist at Gertrude's Garden Children's Hospital in Nairobi, which has an HIV/AIDS program for children.

Dr. Nyarango says younger children who are unable to swallow pills take anti-retroviral drugs in the form of a syrup called Stocrin, which poses its own problems.

"One of the biggest challenges in treating HIV children is because most of them have to take syrups, and most of the syrups are not palatable, and for that reason, it really affects their adherence to the treatment," he explained. "Some of them would spit out or vomit the syrups and this is a lifelong treatment, then it becomes quite a challenge to have the children cooperate in taking the ARVs."

Dr. Nyarango says one alternative is to give young children tablets or pills, but caregivers would need to cut the adult-sized doses into half, a feat he says even nurses struggle with and can lead to over- or under-dosing.

Whether or not HIV-positive children adhere to their ARV regime depends a lot on the attitude of the child's parents or caregivers.