HIV-positive mothers and their infants receive vital support
In Constanta County, 80 children with HIV-positive mothers were born during the three years between 2007 and 2010. They need special care for approximately two years, until their own anti-bodies are formed.
Poverty, lack of food, and opportunities are all critical problems for mother and childBut not all mothers know how to protect their infants or have the financial capacity to do so, which is why World Vision recently offered support to ten HIV-positive mothers and their infants through Girls and Women in Crisis Gift Catalog funding. They received information about child development and nutrition and US$500 in social aid consisting of powered milk, food for mother and child, personal care items for the child, detergents, labour saving devices such as washing machine, stove, fire wood and other neccesary items to care for their infants.
Alina, 21, is a single mother to her seven-month-old sonGeorge. She has known about her HIV status since she was nine years old. Since then, she regularly took medication and learned how the virus can be transmitted from mother to child.
“I delivered through Caesarean operation and I never breastfeed my child. I am giving him three syrups until he reaches one year in order to prevent the virus transfer. When I see a wound on him or if I have one myself, I use medicinal gloves to touch my son”, she says.
Because Alina and her child share a room with five other people, she dreams of having a comfortable room just for her and her son. In the meantime, the cot, clothes, hygienic products and powered milk provided by World Vision for George have significantly eased the burden of having to meet so many needs.
Twenty-two-year-old Elena is a Roma HIV-positive mother who lives with her nine-month-old son Vasile, with eight relatives in a four-metre square room without a proper floor. The “house”, is in fact a shelter built on a field 11 years ago, out of planks and covered with plastic foil and cardboard.
They don’t have an in-house water supply and receive electricity only when they can afford to buy a few liters of gas to supply the neighbours’ electrical generator. Both mother and child sleep on a shabby mattress, directly on the earth and fight, especially night, against the cockroaches and the rats that swarm inside the room.
Elena doesn’t have much hope of finding a job because she only finished the third grade at school and barely knows how to read and write. Poverty, lack of food, and opportunities are all critical problems for mother and child.
My desire is that my child will be found negative. Even if I die, he will be healthy and that’s the important thing for meThe grandmother gathers plastic bottles on a daily basis, selling them for 10 -20 lei (up to six dollars) for a day’s work
“If Elena and the rest of my children and nephews succeed in eating once a month, some chicken off-cuts this is a miracle!”, shares the grandmother sadly.
If life wasn’t harsh enough, Elena found out that she is HIV positive when her baby was just two months old. Her husband left her when heard the diagnosis. Moreover, because she breast fed her baby for the first two months, she is concerned for his health, despite having clear test results.
“My desire is that my child will be found negative. Even if I die, he will be healthy and that’s the important thing for me”, Elena says.
-Ends-
Further information:
The Girls and Women in Crises Gift Catalogue funding contributes to World Vision Romania’s project ‚Special Club for AIDS Kids’ (Together for the Future) through:
Each couple, child and mother, benefits from social assistance. Depending on each case and needs, the aid consists of powdered milk, food for the mother and the child, personal care items for the child, detergents, labour saving devices such as washing machine, stove and fire wood, etc. Also, the mothers benefit from individual counseling to learn about child development and nutrition and also to cope with the challenges of her situation.
Group counseling current helps eight young HIV positive women and two HIV positive men aged 22 -23, who experience low self esteem, social isolation and no professional integration. Through the counseling meetings the teenagers learn practical methods of becoming empowered and overcoming the difficult circumstances they experience so that they can become socially and professionally integrated. Group discussions cover self esteem and self confidence, effective communication, conflict management, motivation and decision making process and using personal resources for social and professional achievements.
Poverty, lack of food, and opportunities are all critical problems for mother and childBut not all mothers know how to protect their infants or have the financial capacity to do so, which is why World Vision recently offered support to ten HIV-positive mothers and their infants through Girls and Women in Crisis Gift Catalog funding. They received information about child development and nutrition and US$500 in social aid consisting of powered milk, food for mother and child, personal care items for the child, detergents, labour saving devices such as washing machine, stove, fire wood and other neccesary items to care for their infants.
Alina, 21, is a single mother to her seven-month-old sonGeorge. She has known about her HIV status since she was nine years old. Since then, she regularly took medication and learned how the virus can be transmitted from mother to child.
“I delivered through Caesarean operation and I never breastfeed my child. I am giving him three syrups until he reaches one year in order to prevent the virus transfer. When I see a wound on him or if I have one myself, I use medicinal gloves to touch my son”, she says.
Because Alina and her child share a room with five other people, she dreams of having a comfortable room just for her and her son. In the meantime, the cot, clothes, hygienic products and powered milk provided by World Vision for George have significantly eased the burden of having to meet so many needs.
Twenty-two-year-old Elena is a Roma HIV-positive mother who lives with her nine-month-old son Vasile, with eight relatives in a four-metre square room without a proper floor. The “house”, is in fact a shelter built on a field 11 years ago, out of planks and covered with plastic foil and cardboard.
They don’t have an in-house water supply and receive electricity only when they can afford to buy a few liters of gas to supply the neighbours’ electrical generator. Both mother and child sleep on a shabby mattress, directly on the earth and fight, especially night, against the cockroaches and the rats that swarm inside the room.
Elena doesn’t have much hope of finding a job because she only finished the third grade at school and barely knows how to read and write. Poverty, lack of food, and opportunities are all critical problems for mother and child.
My desire is that my child will be found negative. Even if I die, he will be healthy and that’s the important thing for meThe grandmother gathers plastic bottles on a daily basis, selling them for 10 -20 lei (up to six dollars) for a day’s work
“If Elena and the rest of my children and nephews succeed in eating once a month, some chicken off-cuts this is a miracle!”, shares the grandmother sadly.
If life wasn’t harsh enough, Elena found out that she is HIV positive when her baby was just two months old. Her husband left her when heard the diagnosis. Moreover, because she breast fed her baby for the first two months, she is concerned for his health, despite having clear test results.
“My desire is that my child will be found negative. Even if I die, he will be healthy and that’s the important thing for me”, Elena says.
-Ends-
Further information:
The Girls and Women in Crises Gift Catalogue funding contributes to World Vision Romania’s project ‚Special Club for AIDS Kids’ (Together for the Future) through:
- Direct support for 10 babies and children to ensure their well being and also direct support for their HIV-positive young mothers (ten)
- Specialised counseling for 10 HIV positive young adults that are benefiting from university scholarships and are facing difficulties in their social and professional integration.
Each couple, child and mother, benefits from social assistance. Depending on each case and needs, the aid consists of powdered milk, food for the mother and the child, personal care items for the child, detergents, labour saving devices such as washing machine, stove and fire wood, etc. Also, the mothers benefit from individual counseling to learn about child development and nutrition and also to cope with the challenges of her situation.
Group counseling current helps eight young HIV positive women and two HIV positive men aged 22 -23, who experience low self esteem, social isolation and no professional integration. Through the counseling meetings the teenagers learn practical methods of becoming empowered and overcoming the difficult circumstances they experience so that they can become socially and professionally integrated. Group discussions cover self esteem and self confidence, effective communication, conflict management, motivation and decision making process and using personal resources for social and professional achievements.
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