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Aids Children

Nonhlanhla Nhlapo.
Nonhlanhla Nhlapo, aged 18 months, had been abandoned by her mother at Benoni Hospital in Soweto, South Africa. She was tested and found to be HIV-positive. They brought Nonhlanhla to the Bethesda House, a home in Johannesburg opened by the Salvation Army specifically for HIV-positive, abandoned babies and orphans infected and affected by AIDS.

She was malnourished, had constant diarrhea and was eating poorly. Several times she had to be given an intravenous drip because of severe dehydration. Nonhlanhla's paternal grandmother began to search for her granddaughter. Her starting point was the hospital. There she met a social worker who assisted her in her search. She finally came to Bethesda House. Overwhelmed to see her granddaughter, tears of joy rolled down her cheeks. Nonhlanhla seemed to understand what was happening. The sense of belonging was evident, because she clung to her grandmother. What a moment of reunion and joy!

The grandmother made arrangements to take the child back into the family "where she belongs". Then she began to hunt for the mother, because Nonhlanhla's condition was deteriorating: she already had AIDS. During the search for her mother, Nonhlanhla died. Her funeral was held at Bethesda. On Nonhlanhla's burial day only the grandmother was expected to come. However, instead the families came from both sides. ¹

Statistics

• Global number of people living with HIV/AIDS: 38 million; number between 15 and 24 years old: 10 million; number of these who are female: 6.2 million.²
• Estimated by 2010, 25 million children will have been orphaned by AIDS. ³
• Estimated number of children under 14 years old in sub-Saharan Africa who are HIV-positive: 1.9 million; the number of children under five living in Spain: 1.9 million.⁴
• In 2004, 2.2 million children were living with the disease. ⁵
• Every day 2,000 children under 15 years of age are being infected with HIV worldwide.⁶
• About one third of babies born to HIV-infected mothers acquire the infection, and of those infected about 80 per cent will die by the age of five.⁷
• 15 million children have been orphaned through AIDS.⁸
• Experts suggest that by 2015, 40 million children will have lost their parents to AIDS.¹¹

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How can children be infected by HIV?

Children have various sources of risk for infection:

• Parental transmission at birth
• Through breast feeding if mothers are infected
• Sexual abuse
• Sexual experimentation as they reach puberty
• Intravenous drug use.⁹

The sex industry

HIV/AIDS is both a cause and a consequence of commercial sexual exploitation of children. In some parts of the world, children are being chosen as sex partners in the mistaken belief that sex with a child is 'safer'. Having sex with a child, it is thought, protects the abuser from HIV/AIDS because the child is more likely to be 'clean' and to have had fewer sex partners. Quite the opposite is true. Because of their vulnerability and weakness, children in prostitution are often forced to take more clients than an adult might accept, and are generally powerless to ask the client to use a condom. Moreover, children are physically more vulnerable to infection, not only because they are more easily damaged internally (and are often treated with violence by their clients), but also because young membranes are more porous. Many children who flee from brothels in South East Asia are immediately tested for HIV/AIDS. Rates of 50 per cent positive are normal, with up to 90 per cent being found in some cases.¹⁰ 

References:

¹Children in Crisis, Phyllis Kilbourn, MARC Publications, 1996
²Unicef's State of the World's Children 2005
³Viva Network, Celebrating the World's Children
⁴Unicef's State of the World's Children 2005
⁵Viva Network, Celebrating the World's Children
⁶Unicef's State of the World's Children 2005
⁷ibid.
⁸Viva Network, Celebrating the World's Children
⁹Children in Crisis, Phyllis Kilbourn, MARC Publications, 1996
¹⁰Viva Network, Celebrating the World's Children
¹¹ibid.