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FROM THE FIELD

Easing the Burden of AIDS in Zambia
11 Dec 2008 16:36:00 GMT
 Source: Children International - USA
Clementina Chapusha

Website: Website: http://www.children.org

Seven-year-old Elias and his grandmother, Iness, are grateful for the life-sustaining support Elias receives through sponsorship.
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Seven-year-old Elias and his grandmother, Iness, are grateful for the life-sustaining support Elias receives through sponsorship.
Photos by Children International - Zambia

Background

•  AIDS in Africa

•  AIDS pandemic

•  Food and hunger

•  Health and diseases

•  Chikungunya

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Each December, Children International and the world take time to remember those who have died of AIDS and those who still suffer from the disease. Here's the story of a special little boy in Zambia who is finding relief through Children International's sponsorship program.

Elias suddenly wakes up full of excitement. It's 5 a.m. when he rushes to the reed mat where his grandmother is sleeping and vigorously shakes her awake.

"It's feeding day today! It's feeding day today!" Elias shouts enthusiastically. Irritated, his grandmother shouts back, "It's too early. Go back to sleep."

Before his grandmother even realizes that it's morning, Elias is dressed and ready to leave for Children International's community center in Kanyama. The 7-year-old knows his survival depends on the healthy, balanced diet he receives three times a week at the center.

Like hundreds of other Zambian children in the sponsorship program, Elias is HIV-positive and cannot survive without a healthy diet. That's why he and other Zambian children with HIV receive nutrient-rich food and supplements to help strengthen their immune systems and lengthen their lives.

Inheriting illness

Elias was born with the virus that causes AIDS. His mother died of AIDS when Elias was a baby. Soon after his mother died, his elder sister also gave in to AIDS and died at the age of 7. Then his father died in early 2008, after a long battle with the disease, and Elias was left in the care of his grandmother, Iness.

"AIDS has taken its toll on my family," Iness laments. "My grandchild would not have died in 2001 if drugs were easily accessible then. If only I had known about the antiretroviral treatment, she would not have died a slow and painful death."

Elias has been taking antiretroviral drugs, or ARVs, every day for almost two years. And his health has greatly improved, thanks to the balanced diet he gets from Children International. Without supplemental nutrition, the strong drugs Elias takes would have left him weak and even sicker.

According to CI-Zambia doctor, Lalick Banda, HIV is one of the major causes of malnutrition for children five and younger.

Innocent victims

Like Elias, children in Zambia are most commonly infected with HIV by means of Mother-to-Child Transmission (MTCT). The virus is passed from the mother to her baby during pregnancy, childbirth or while breastfeeding.

Efforts to prevent MTCT are beginning to yield results, though. International assistance has made programs for the prevention of MTCT widely available, and health centers across Zambia now offer antiretroviral drugs to expectant mothers and newborn infants to avert infant infections.

Increased awareness is also helping to alleviate the burden of AIDS in Zambia. Prominent public figures like Elizabeth Mataka, CI-Zambia's board chairperson and the United Nations Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, tirelessly advocate on behalf of innocent children like Elias who are infected with HIV.

Speaking out at the highest levels of government, Ms. Mataka has issued a clear warning about the future of AIDS. "If we do not have leadership that is meaningful, powerful, forceful and fully executed for all people," she states, "our children will never see an AIDS-free world. I pray that it does not take another generation of people to wait for leaders who can bring positive, lasting and sustainable change."

* Clementina Chapusha is our communications coordinator in Zambia.




[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Last updated:Thu Dec 11 16:46:56 2008