DESIRE Society: Caring for HIV AIDS Children

Visakhapatnam

CATEGORY

Tittle	content
Name of the Project	Child Supplementary Nutrition and Health Care
Geographical Area	Visakhapatnam and Neighbour Districts
Target Group	Children Living with HIV/AIDS
Aims & Objectives	Aim of this project is to increase the immunity levels of the children by offering supplemetary nutrition and health care monitoring
Goal of the Project	To expand the life expectancy of children living with HIV/AIDS
Supporting Agency	Individual donors and few business associates
Activities	Since pediatric formulations were not available, majority of the children living with HIV/AIDS were not able to get proper nutrition and treatment in India. Another big concern for those working in the field of HIV/AIDS is to reach out to the large number of children who have not been tested and who could be potential carriers of the virus. Identifying children who are vulnerable to HIV infection and verifying their status would therefore be a priority in this program. Currently this project is able to support up to 100 children in Visakhapatnam. Core activities of the project: Nutritional Support Diagnosis of HIV infection in infants and children Enumeration of CD4 Cells in children found to be HIV Positive ART initiation for children needed treatment Diagnosis and management of Opportunistic Infections psycho-social Support Travel and logistical Support
Date & Venue	10th of every month at our Vizag office in Madhava Dhara (If 10th is public holiday then next working day will be camp day)
Outcome	By offering these services will enable the stigma free environment among the children suffering with HIV/AIDS. Therefore, this will reduce the stigma associated with the HIV disease in our society. While treating their opportunistic infections and offering them proper nutrition will also enable them to attend the school regularly and psycho-support (counseling) can impact on children to adopt good behaviour. In addition this support will strengthen the positive thinking to lead happy life among CLHAs.