When I think of people living with HIV, it’s almost always an adult that comes to mind. But through my visits to East African countries, I’ve learned there is a growing number of children living with the virus.

Fortunately many programs now implement “prevention of mother-to-child transmission” initiatives to reduce the likelihood of newborns contracting the virus from their HIV-positive mothers during birth. But for those children who do become infected, treatment can be complicated for a number of reasons:
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CRS photojournalist and communications officer Sara Fajardo reports from her visit to Guyana:

Patients at the CRS sponsored St. Vincent de Paul Hospice Center measure health in belt notches.

“When I arrived two weeks ago I had to wear a belt to keep my pants up,” says new hospice resident Terrenc, 32, “But with the good food they feed us I no longer need one.”
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Communications Officer Sara Fajardo is traveling in Haiti reporting on CRS programs and sharing her experiences with us.

Friends play dominoes in Wanamet, Haiti. The person who is losing at the game must wear a beard of clothes pins as a playful punishment. Photo by Sara A. Fajardo

On Saturday evenings, Donad Gabaud, 34, plays dominoes with his friends. Under a corrugated tin awning, beside a dusty Haitian road, the group slaps the red pieces forcefully on to a fading black table. Arms extend upwards, slam down quickly, the crowd is quiet, concentration etched in furrowed brows. The men study their tiles, scan the board, sly smiles peeking through their seemingly stoic exteriors.
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Debbie DeVoe, CRS regional information officer in East Africa, reports on a recent ambulance delivery.

By providing six ambulances to local health partners, the CRS-led AIDSRelief consortium is increasing community access to HIV services. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS.

Six local health partners in Kenya received brand-new ambulances for HIV service delivery from the CRS-led AIDSRelief consortium last week. Funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the ambulances will enable the six mission hospitals to transport extremely ill patients and extend service outreach in remote communities.

“We are investing in the people working on the frontiers of the HIV epidemic,” said Hanna Dagnachew, chief of party for AIDSRelief Kenya. “The services we are helping our partners to offer and the success rates they are achieving are worthy of honor in even the most developed countries.”
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In an op/ed article in the Baltimore Sun, CRS President Ken Hackett discusses the fight against HIV and AIDS, noting successes of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the need to keep full funding intact.

Two CRS caregivers attend the Zambia Caregiver and Volunteer Appreciation Day in Lusaka on Nov. 26. Photo by Paul Macek/CRS.

CRS volunteers were among those honored during Zambia Caregivers Appreciation Day on Nov. 25 which feted some 18,500 people who provide home-based care for HIV and AIDS patients as part of the PEPFAR-funded RAPIDS program.

At the main celebration at a sports complex in the capital Lusaka, CRS country representative Paul Macek introduced caregiver Nora Tabita Chama to the distinguished guests, which included Zambia’s first president, Kenneth Kaunda, and the U.S. Ambassador to Zambia, Donald Booth.
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December 1 is World AIDS Day, the day on which we pause to think about the millions of people affected by the HIV pandemic. As the date approaches, we will post a series of entries focusing on our HIV and AIDS programs around the world. Some of the posts will be technical in nature, underscoring the scientific and programmatic foundations of CRS’ work.

“CRS believes that development occurs within an integrated framework, which parallels the lives of the people we serve. As such, CRS often uses the Integral Human Development (IHD) framework as a tool to understand the multiple levels of human development and related issues.

The IHD, which is derived from Catholic Social Teaching (CST), provides a framework to assist people to be able to lead full and productive lives, meeting their basic physical needs in a sustainable manner, while living with dignity in a just and peaceful social environment.

A key purpose of the IHD framework is to help CRS and partners become more effective in assisting the people we serve to improve their livelihood outcomes with the primary livelihood outcome sought being Integral Human Development, meaning that people are able to meet their basic needs and improve their well-being in an atmosphere of social justice and human dignity.”

Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez, President of Caritas Internationalis addresses HIV challenges and Caritas’ commitment to children in 2009 in an article posted on the Caritas website.”

“Greater leadership on HIV is still needed as we mark the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Despite some progress, HIV is a major obstacle to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The pandemic causes incalculable human suffering. It threatens the social and economic infrastructure of the human family. More needs to be done.”

In rural Kenya youth groups use oral and dance traditions  to raise awareness about HIV.  This group, called Janga Gumu, performs locally near the Ziani Primary School. Performance groups deliver messages about the hardships and challenges faced by orphans and vulnerable children. CRS supports these youth and 3,300 others in the Kilifi area with a range of support.

In Kenya, an estimated 1.6 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS. Through community-based assistance from programs such as The Children Behind project, orphans and other vulnerable children are receiving the social, physical, medical, emotional and educational support they need to live more healthy, happy lives. Photo by David Snyder for CRS

December 1 is World AIDS Day, the day on which we pause to think about the millions of people affected by the HIV pandemic. As the date approaches, we will post a series of entries focusing on our HIV and AIDS programs around the world. Some of the posts will be technical in nature, underscoring the scientific and programmatic foundations of CRS’ work.

When people are diagnosed with HIV, they don’t necessarily begin taking antiretroviral medication immediately. However, they may begin palliative care – medical care or treatments designed to help lessen symptoms or delay progression of the virus. One common treatment is nutritional supplementation – extra food, vitamins, or other supplements that the body needs to remain healthy. In fact, nutritional supplementation is a part of many CRS HIV programs.

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