Thaindian News

Kolkata, June 9 (IANS) Social stigma, discrimination and lack of awareness are the main problems in identifying the children living with AIDS and HIV in India, say Unicef officials.

“The main problem in identifying children living with AIDS and HIV in India are social stigma and lack of multi-prong awareness programme,” said Ivonne Camaroni, who heads HIV section in Unicef India country office.

“Actually, both the parents and the children are afraid of the stigma and discrimination that the child will face in his or her school and society. The involvement of the community is very important in order to counter the social taboos that are associated with AIDS,” said Camaroni.

In a report published by Unicef on paediatric HIV in India, it is estimated that of 27 million pregnancies every year, nearly 49,000 occur in HIV positive women.

“However, despite the current uptake coverage of HIV testing of pregnant woman, a very high percentage of the HIV exposed infants remains unknown. Even when the HIV status of mother is known, only six percent of all infants are followed up at eight weeks of age,” said the report.

“Our focus should now be on reaching those hardest to reach so that coverage and follow-up can be universal. We need to work together to provide children living with AIDS and HIV a better and longer life with quality and without social stigma and discrimination,” said Camaroni.

A consultation programme in West bengal concluded that children living with AIDS face significant vulnerabilities due to stigma and discrimination and have inadequate access to information and essential services.

The programme “Our Childhood, Our Stories: Children Living with HIV and AIDS in West Bengal” was held by the West Bengal State AIDS Prevention and Control Society (WBSACPS) in collaboration with Unicef.

“We are trying to educate and reach out so as to increase the awareness about AIDS. There is social stigma and we have to increase the awareness but it will not happen in one day,” said R.K. Vats, project director of WBSAPCS.

“Even with an overall increase in the accessibility of anti-retroviral treatment and the efforts to eliminate new HIV infections in infants and children, challenges remain. We also need to address the stigma and discrimination children and families face at every step,” said Vats.

Camaroni pointed out that rigorous media campaign and awareness measures from the government side are necessary to counter the social stigma.

“The media can play a vital role in informing the masses about the social taboos. Various programs have been taken out in northeastern states.”

Small capsules and programme relating to AIDS and social taboos have been telecast in government channels. We need to do more,” said Camoroni.

“Four mobile vans will be introduced by next week which will be used for raising awareness among the masses. If this technique works, we will introduce more vans in future,” Vats said.