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.