The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Stigma, discrimination still haunt HIV-infected children

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Friday, Jan 29, 2010
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Stigma, discrimination still haunt HIV-infected children

Special Correspondent

State’s efforts in rehabilitating them lauded at public hearing

— Photo: S. R. Raghunathan

Providing assistance: (From left) Shantha Sinha, chairperson of NCPCR; Lov Verma of NCPCR; V.K.Subburaj, Principal Secretary, Health; and S.Vijaya Kumar, Project Director, TN State AIDS control Society, at a press conference in Chennai on Thursday.

CHENNAI: The case of Dhanam (name changed) of Erode is representative in some measure of the condition of children with HIV/AIDS in the State. Dhanam, 10, was referred to the South Indian Positive Network by Erode Positive Network after her relatives refused to take care of the child who tested positive for HIV. Her grandmother was willing, but too frail to take care of her.

She goes to a school in Perambur and has no visitors except for the grandmother who visits her once in a while. The child needs help and support to meet medical expenses, education and nutritional support. At the public hearing on the rights of children in the context of HIV and AIDS in Tamil Nadu organised by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in the city on Thursday, stigma and discrimination, denial of access to education, housing, health, and the traditional support structures the family provides, came up repeatedly during the day. The public hearing accommodated over 20 children affected and infected by HIV.

Shanta Sinha, chairperson, NCPCR, said a number of cases of abuse had come up during the public hearing, directly attributable to stigma and discrimination still present in society. While there was definitely cause for concern, she appreciated the efforts of the State government of Tamil Nadu in bringing down numbers of children with HIV. The government was doing a good job in terms of providing care and support structures to the children and added that there was much scope for improvement.

The jury, headed by Ms. Sinha, comprised Deepa Dixit and Lov Verma of NCPCR, Geetha Ramaseshan, senior advocate, and Jaya Shreedhar, Director, Media Foundation.

The respondents included representatives of government, including V.K. Subburaj, Principal Secretary for Health; M.P.Nirmala, Commissioner of Social Welfare; S.Vijaya Kumar, Project Director, Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society; and other district collectors.

Tamil Nadu has set up the OVC Trust to provide assistance to children infected with HIV/AIDS or those born to parents with the infection. So far, a total of 1,595 orphan children have been given educational assistance at a cost of Rs.44 lakh; 7,937 infected children have been identified and registered at 35 ART centres; six community care centres have been set up and 39 drop –in centres have been established, according to authorities.

A proposal for nutritional assistance for children and their families has been submitted to the Social Welfare department as a similar scheme offered by TANSACS had come to an end in August 2009.

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