The best way to support children affected by HIV and AIDS is to allow them to grow up in a familiar environment with neighbourhood children, Chairperson of Chi Heng Foundation (CHF), Chung To, told members of the media during a press conference at the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) currently taking place in Bali, Indonesia.

Chung said the experiences of his organization in Central China show that providers of services for orphans and other vulnerable children (OVC) can achieve better results if their programmes are meant to support the children within their local communities.

CHF is providing education support, psychosocial support, vocational training and career development to over 7, 000 children affected by HIV and AIDS in Central China.

Chung said while the HIV epidemic in China is considered as low prevalence, there are some villages in the central part of the country where estimates are as high as 40% of the adult population.

Many poor peasants in the area got infected with HIV in the 1990's through selling blood at collection stations that were operated illegally and used unsanitary practices in order to earn extra money for a living, according to Chung.

To give a picture of the extent of this problem, Chung gave an example of a grandmother who had six children but all had died of AIDS; leaving behind their children under her care.

The Government has become aware of this problem and is trying to establish assistance programmes for children affected by HIV and AIDS but the efforts may not reach as many children as they should, Chung said.

He told reporters at the press conference that CHF was created to support the education needs of these children, promote HIV prevention, care and anti-discrimination.

Through building reading rooms and buying books, providing music classes and instruments to the entire school, Chung said the programme doesn't only help children affected by HIV and AIDS but children from other households in the poverty stricken villages.

He was impressed by the resilience by some of these children who have helplessly witnessed their parents dying. The psychosocial support component of CHF seeks to help ease their pain and sorrow through drawings, essays or letters to express their thoughts and feelings.

CHF also uses a model adopted from Africa called the memory project in which children can use memory books to explore; record and come to terms with their personal histories including their relationships with and memories of their parents.

Chung said the most difficult part of this project is to give hope to children in these poor communities who believe that their only destiny is to live and die in their villages.

To challenge this idea, CHF offers summer internships and long term job opportunities to AIDS-impacted university students in its programmes to ensure that these young people go back to their communities with the hope that they become role models for the younger children affected by HIV and AIDS.

CHF also works with children living with HIV through a programme called direct observation therapy to improve their treatment outcomes. This project is meant to remind children living with HIV about the importance of treatment adherence.

Chung said they have seen improved treatment outcomes for children on antiretroviral therapy since the beginning of the initiative.

He believes that the successes achieved by this project so far are largely due to CHF's unique approach that focuses on the care of children within their local communities instead of orphanages.

Godsway Shumba
Key Correspondent

Online at: http://healthdev.net/site/post.php?s=5723