By
Irene Kiiza
& Uthman Kiyagga
WEEKLY OBSER VER
If more parents and caretakers became aware of the need
to test and treat children suspected or found to be HIV
positive, the infant mortality rate in Uganda could go down
considerably.
According to the Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC),
25,000 children in Uganda get infected with HIV on an annual
basis.
Unfortunately, of the 50,000 children eligible to be on
ARVs, only 12,000 have access to the drugs.
What this means is that 38,000 children with HIV could
die before the age of five years because of not getting
antiretroviral treatment (ART).
In an effort to save the children, the JCRC is campaigning
in Kampala to cause caretakers of children who are at risk
of HIV infection to bring them for testing.
The campaign, which kicked off on April 18 in Kawempe Division,
at St. Anthony Primary School in Mpererwe, will involve
voluntary counselling and onsite testing.
The testing will rotate among the five divisions of Kampala,
namely; Nakawa, Makindye, Rubaga, Kawempe and Central.
The children JCRC is most interested in seeing tested are
those born to HIV-positive parents, orphans, especially
if the parents died of HIV/AIDS related diseases, children
who are always sick and any child at risk of infection,
for example through sexual abuse.
The campaign that will end at Kisenyi Church area Zone,
in the Central Division on May 17, also aims at extending
access of ART to vulnerable populations. That is why the
venues are mainly in the marginalised slum communities.
Barbara Natif of the JCRC told The Weekly Observer last
week that the campaign that went to Makindye after Kawempe
was going well.
Ms Rose Byaruhanga, in charge of counselling at the Joint
Clinical Research Centre, said the turn out has been so
far overwhelming, adding that because of logistical constraints,
priority had gone to children and pregnant women, as well
as other people referred to the centre’s clinic in
Mengo.
Byaruhanga said 200 people were tested at St. John Baptist
Kikuba Mutwe/ Kabalagala in Makindye Division, and 10 percent
of those tested positive for HIV.
Testing children (both biological and those left in our
care) for HIV is a good practice, especially since they
can get help if found positive.
Some parents have even found their children HIV-positive,
when none of them has tested positive for HIV or had reason
to believe that they could be HIV-positive.
Although the best way to know your child’s HIV status
is by getting an HIV test done, here are some of the signs
and symptoms which could be present in a child with HIV.
According to niaid.nih.gov, many children with HIV infection
do not gain weight or grow normally.
HIV-infected children are often slow to reach important
milestones in motor skills and mental development such as
crawling, walking, and talking. As the disease progresses,
many children develop neurologic problems such as difficulty
in walking, poor school performance and seizures.
These children usually suffer serious bacterial infections,
pneumonia, unrelenting diaper rash and infections in the
mouth and throat that make eating difficult and in later
stages suffer chronic diarrhoea.
Usually children with HIV suffer the usual childhood infections
more frequently and more severely than uninfected children.
These infections can cause seizures, fever, pneumonia, recurrent
colds, diarrhoea, dehydration, and other problems.
Although not a must, it is wise to test all children for
HIV, instead of merely assuming their status, or worrying
only about the one that is sickly.
According to avert.org, a website for AVERT, an international
AIDS charity, at the end of 2007 there were 2.5 million
children living with HIV around the world, of those 420,000
were newly infected.
And of the 2.1 million people who died of AIDS in 207 more
than one in seven were children. What this indicates is
that children are dying when they could have been saved.
ikiiza@ugandaobserver.com
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