Save lives of HIV Orphan Children in India

13 years old Krish (name changed) resides with his mother in a village in Osmanabad District. At the age of 7, his father passed away due to HIV/AIDS infection which then triggered a huge crisis on his mother. The entire responsibility of her family crumbled upon her. Being jobless and with no support from her relatives, his mother struggled to fulfil the needs of the family, which also affected the health and education of Krish. 

Krish, being a bright student was unable to attend school as his health began to deteriorate with complaints of weakness, diarrhoea, fever and weight loss which had required immediate hospitalization at PRIDE India’s SPARSH Care and Counselling Centre where he then started to receive proper medical treatment, counselling and nutrition support. The specially designed nutrition support provided and the continuous follow up had helped Krish in his overall health improvement with a significant increase in his weight and also increase in his CD4 count from 250 to 548.  

The regular home visits by the outreach team, counseling and behavior change activities helped him overcome his fears about HIV/AIDS and had helped him get back to his active life and begin his regular school-going activities.  

However, the situation continued to be a traumatic ordeal for Krish’s mother to make ends meet. The SPARSH Care and Counselling Centre further intervene and support was provided to her for goat rearing so that the goat milk would provide nutrition to the child and also she could earn some money through goat rearing.  

During the COVID 19 pandemic, due to the lockdowns and no availability of the local transport, SPARSH CCC continued to support Krish and his mother by providing the Anti-Retroviral Treatment medication at home which helped him to continue receiving his timely medical treatment and also as they are more prone to opportunistic infections. The CCC also helped them by providing them with Food and Hygiene packets so that their diet does not get affected due to the lockdowns. Also, the continuous supply of the goat’s milk helped Krish’s mother sustain her family as well as it helped Krish to continue to receive his nutrition during this pandemic.     

Krish mother was grateful to PRIDE India’s CCC and it’s supporters, because of which she was able to sustain her family and provide Krish with proper medication, diet and nutrition even in this crisis.  

Leaving no stone unturned to deliver urgent relief for the HIV children and their families

As the country’s energy and resources are currently occupied in battling COVID 19, those infected with HIV are more vulnerable due to low immunity and are impacted with a serious challenge to accessing lifesaving anti-retroviral therapy and nutritious food during this unprecedented lockdown. Besides, many people from this community who are daily wage workers are out of work and are left with no money to access any resources available.  

As emergency relief measures, The PRIDE India has crafted its intervention programmes to address these challenges and to support the HIV infected and affected children and their families to ensure that they remain safe indoors and do not become victims of hunger and malnutrition and even more vulnerable to opportunistic infections.

With the help of its supporters and well-wishers, The PRIDE India has taken into account and has reached out to the HIV children and their families with the initiatives below: 

• 1375 vulnerable PLHIV families with no survival resources were provided with dry food grains and hygiene kits that would help the families sustain for about 20 to 22 days.
• The registered PLHIV have been provided with three months of anti-retroviral therapy at a time to avoid frequent travel.
• Arrangements of telephonic medical consultations for unwell PLHIV and telephonic follow-ups for provided for counseling, drug adherence of PLHIV.
• Home delivery of medicines and need-based home visits are conducted if the PLHIV is not able to reach the hospitals and also to avoid the risk of increased exposure to COVID 19.

The PLHIV families were happy and grateful to PRIDE India and it’s well-wishers such support which ensures their safety, good health and well-being.