The missing picture of AIDS

Sunday, October 15, 2006
The missing picture of Aids
By Stella A. Estremera

"ANO ang mangyayari sa mga batang hindi nabibigyan ng gamot at tulong," asked a high school girl in the open forum during the first day of the 8th Philippine National Aids Convention held at the Royal Mandaya Hotel the other week.

A hush fell on the huge crowd gathered in the Lantawan Hall for a few seconds, many in the audience shifted on their seat, the reporters gathered in one group stared at the resource speakers, probably wondering who would be brave enough to speak up.

If the situation were to be described, it was as if the whole hall was whispering, "Uh-oh!" under its collective breath, and it was a fitting close to the morning session during the opening of the congress, as it drove the point of the whole congress: the children with Aids...

"One child below 15 years of age dies of an Aids-related illness every minute of every day. One person between 15-24 contracts HIV every 15 seconds. And, as I speak before you today, at least three children would have died of Aids," United Nations resident coordinator Nileema Noble said as she addressed the congress earlier on.

Yes, HIV-Aids does not only affect the bad guys and the perverts, as we would have wanted to believe and the Unicef and UNAids are even more concerned because in the fight against HIV-Aids, the children are regarded as the missing picture.

In the "10 fast facts on Filipino children affected by HIV-Aids", it's said that most Filipino children whose parents are living with Aids don't know about their parents' affliction.

"Filipino parents living with HIV are reluctant to tell their children about their status because they want to protect their children from HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Even infected children aren't being told about HIV," the fast facts said.

The fast facts further pointed out that there is a "deafening silence on Filipino children affected by HIV-Aids.

"The National HIV-Aids Registry lists only know cases of HIV. If most of the 9,000 estimated people living with HIG (PLH) in the Philippines have children, that could mean thousands of children are affected," it said.

Dr. Nicholas Alipui, country representative of Unicef said that when he arrived in the Philippines in 2004, the National Registry of HIV-Aids has already documented 29 children infected since 1984. The Remedios Aids Foundation Inc.'s website reports that from January 1984 to April 2006, there has already been a total of 36 children below ten years old, and 46 more between 10 and 19 are listed in the HIV-positives nationwide.

Whether its still steady at 29 or has already risen to 82, however, is not the major point of concern, rather, it's whether the health sector and government are reaching enough children living with HIV-Aids, Dr. Alipui pointed out. (Read on....)