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Abbey824
Abbey824Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 2:45:00 PM EST
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The Boston Globe has an article today profiling a Kigali, Rwanda program for children and young people living with HIV and AIDS. The program takes place on Sundays, providing activities, support groups, food and healthcare. While HIV is still a huge problem in the area;
One of the reasons for this is programs like the one the author profiles, run by WE-ACTX. The Sunday program is targeted specifically to the needs of children and young people, providing a safe space with peers, and counselling older participants on issues in school and relationships. This is essential when half of all new HIV infections are in young people under 25. As more and more people are living with HIV longer, more and more young people are part of this population and need more information then how to manage thier ARV medication. The director of the program agrees when discussing the opening of their next step- a boarding high school;HIV treatment has improved drastically since 2004. Today, the Rwandan government reports that over 60 percent of those needing antiretroviral medications (ARVs) are on them. This is higher than most of the rest of sub-Sahara Africa, where average uptake of ARVs is reported at only 25 percent due to a myriad of factors including poor political will, stigma, discrimination, poverty, lack of available clinics and drugs, and gender-based violence.
I am heartened this program, and see it as the model of a program that works; one that focuses on the lives of the people it affects, and thier realities rather than thier disease.He told us he didn’t know how to bring and take his ARVs and still keep his HIV infection hidden from others. When WE-ACTx began the Family Program, few children were on ARVs, and fewer still were in high school. Now, children are doing so well on their medications, we need to help them address new issues around confidentiality, stigma, and discrimination.
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