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Query: UMLS:C0019693 (HIV)
 170,526 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 1 million children, globally, are infected with HIV. The virus is transmitted to infants during pregnancy, birth, or breast feeding. More rarely, children are infected by contaminated blood products and nonsterile equipment, or through sexual abuse involving penetrative sex. More than 50% of the children who are infected with HIV and living in developing countries will die before they are 12 months old. This can be changed with good preventive health care and a supportive environment. Uninfected children living in families whose infected adults are forced to leave paid employment or are too ill to work in the fields, face increased poverty and stress. Sick women and older female children care for younger children and ill family members. Children leave school to find work. WHO estimates that more than 5 million children will have lost their mother or both parents to AIDS by the year 2000. Relatives may be unable to provide for the orphans or send to them to school. Children lose their rights to the family land or house after the death of their parents. Without education, working skills, or family support, the children end up on the street, where they become sexually active at an early age and are at risk for HIV. AIDS programs should address the needs of children. Recommendations include: 1) stress prevention by promoting safer sex, ensuring blood safety, and avoiding unnecessary blood transfusions; 2) provide accessible health care to women and children; 3) support children and other family members who are caring for sick relatives; 4) ensure that older children receive sex education and the means to prevent infection; and 5) care for the increasing numbers of children without parents, and of elderly people who can no longer depend on their adult children.
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PMID:Caring for children. 1228 20

300 men and women attending a municipal sexually transmitted disease clinic in Guatemala City voluntarily participated in an anonymous and confidential study to determine HIV seroprevalence among patients with sexually transmitted diseases and to identify risk practices. Two cases were confirmed, for a seropositivity rate of 0.7%. Subjects were aged 6-62 years, with 45% between ages 21 and 30. 80% were male. 42% were married or in union. 26% of those in union reported occasional relations with other persons. 69% of subjects had never used condoms in occasional relations. 58% reported sex with prostitutes at least once a month. 97% reported they were heterosexual, 1.7% bisexual, and 0.3% homosexual, although 19% reported at least one past homosexual episode. 90% reported having had a sexually transmitted disease. 53.0% reported having had gonorrhea; 39.0%, pubic lice; 29.7%, human papillomavirus; and 27.3%, chancroid. At the time of the survey, 21.0% had gonorrhea, 13.7% had genital herpes, 13.3% had chancroid, and 12.0% had human papillomavirus. 9.0% reported receiving one or two blood transfusions between 1980 and 1988, when screening of the blood supply began in Guatemala. Among other risk factors, 89.3% reported using alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or other drugs. 1.3% reported using intravenous drugs. 95.7% knew about AIDS, but only half perceived themselves to be at risk. 34.3% reported sexual relations before age 15; 9.7%, a history of sexual abuse; 65.7%, sexual promiscuity; 69%, nonuse of condoms; and 58%, contact with prostitutes.
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PMID:[Behaviors and risk factors in a population of patients with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)]. 1229 Jun 18

A Peruvian nongovernmental organization (NGO), the New Life Christian Community, works to promote human rights among homosexuals, pregnant teenagers, and children suffering from sex abuse. The NGO, which is not affiliated with any church hierarchy, also provides training in AIDS and sexuality counseling as well as personal development activities that promote health preservation. The NGO supports AIDS sufferers by providing family support and temporary hospice care. The Community plans to conduct research into adolescent pregnancy, the relationship of sexuality and AIDS, and ways to support people with HIV/AIDS. The Community's free newsletter geared for sexual minorities is distributed at social venues and government health institutions. The NGO promotes condom use as a resource for pleasure and is working to replace the prevailing reality of sex as power with the concept of sex as pleasure.
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PMID:Country watch: Peru. 1229 39

Politicians in the US have made adolescent parents the scapegoat of changing cultural patterns by suggesting punitive solutions to nonmarital births rather than addressing underlying causes of premature child-bearing. It is known that the percentages of young people of all races and all social classes reporting early, nonmarital sexual intercourse have increased dramatically, while adolescent fertility rates peaked in the 1950s. Improved access to contraception and abortion caused a decline in teen pregnancy and birth rates from 1970 to 1986. During 1986-91, service providers could not match growing demand, and the birth rate increased 25%. Increased rates of sexual activity have also led to increases in the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS among adolescents. This situation was exacerbated by Reagan and Bush policies, which reduced funding for services to adolescents and supported abstinence-only sex education courses. The concern voiced by policy-makers today centers on nonmarital childbearing by low-income adolescents who will rely on public assistance to survive. A proper response to this situation would involve the following policy actions: 1) mandating comprehensive sexuality education from kindergarten through high school, 2) funding mentoring programs, 3) improving economic and educational opportunities, 4) expanding STD and HIV/AIDS prevention programs, 5) increasing access to confidential health services (including mental health care and substance abuse treatment), 6) expanding child sexual abuse prevention and intervention programs, and 7) increasing access to and acceptability of teen contraceptive usage and abortion.
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PMID:Teen pregnancy: a public health issue or political football? 1229 47

A dissemination workshop, which was held jointly by the family health unit of the African Medical and Research Foundation and the Population Council, delivered the findings of a female adolescent health and sexuality survey. The study revealed that 10,000 schoolgirls drop out of school every year due to pregnancy. In addition, an alarming degree of ignorance regarding contraception, fertility, and pregnancy exists among the 10,314 schoolgirls in the sample population. One-third reported sexual experience, 18% had ever used contraceptives, and 42% had experienced abortion. It was explained in the workshop that pregnancy in immature females is likely to lead to compounded and multiple medical problems including physical damage to the girl, risk of getting sexually transmitted diseases which may lead to infertility at a later stage, and high susceptibility to HIV infection. The Catholic Church has developed a sex education syllabus, which is being used in Catholic-sponsored schools. Furthermore, other groups are dealing with equipping the youth with knowledge, skills, and attitudes to help them cope with the demands of modern life. Legal protection against sexual abuse and the role of media for advocacy were also tackled in the workshop.
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PMID:Adolescent health and sexuality. 1229 25

The TANESA Project has developed an easily replicable "mapping" intervention to assist communities in identifying and addressing risk situations for HIV/sexually transmitted disease (STD) infection and sexual violence. Some of the identified risk situations include drinking habits and alcoholism, exchanging sex for gift and money, lack of condoms, inadequate community efforts against sexual abuse and violence, and lack of parental guidance or participation of fathers in educating their children. The mapping approach also allows the participants to propose solutions to the problems they have identified and discuss these with community leaders so that the whole community would take action to address HIV/STDs. To ensure effectiveness of the program, a follow-up is undertaken by a multi-sectoral team composed of representatives from the district council, agricultural extension, community development, as well as representatives from the health and planning departments.
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PMID:Country watch: Tanzania. 1229 65

This article focuses on the response for all AIDS affected children in South Africa. In a study by the National HIV/AIDS Care and Support Task Team in South Africa and the Save the Children Fund by the UK, a variety of categories were identified when defining Children Living with AIDS/HIV. Among the most threatened groups identified were those children from infected households where children carry the burden of caring for their dying parents. In response, the government must incorporate planning for the future of children who will be orphaned as well as provide support for those children who act as caregivers while their parents are still alive. Another group are those from uninfected households who are affected by reduced access to core services and decline in economic capacity. Moreover, the escalating phenomenon is worsened by the prevailing sexual abuse cases in the country. The situation is further aggravated by the lack of policy framework that acts as a barrier to an effective and coordinated action. This article advocates the mainstreaming of HIV/AIDS and children's issues into all key program and development areas across all sectors. Likewise, moving the children from the peripheries of the planning process and acknowledging their pivotal role, practitioners will immeasurably strengthen the capacity of South Africa in its fight against AIDS.
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PMID:Response for all AIDS affected children, not AIDS orphans alone. 1229 51

This article presents new figures on the number of children with AIDS released by the UNAIDS in June 1997 in its publication "Children Living in a World with AIDS." The number of children with AIDS is expected to reach over 1 million children during 1997. The concern was raised that the increase in child cases of AIDS will offset gains in infant and child mortality in developing countries. By 2010, AIDS among children may increase infant mortality by as much as 25% and increase child mortality by over 100% in regions most affected by AIDS. About 90% of children with AIDS are from poorer nations in Africa. 1.5 million people died of AIDS in 1996, of which 350,000 were children under 15 years old. Children are at risk of AIDS through mother-child transmission routes, unsafe handling of blood and injection practices, sex including sexual abuse, coercion and commercial exploitation, and drug use. UNAIDS estimates that by mid-1996, about 9 million children under 15 years old lost their mothers to AIDS, of which children 90% were from sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank estimates that 1.2 million children under 18 years old in Uganda lost at least 1 parent to AIDS. About 50,000 loss-of-parent cases are added each year. UNICEF found that children orphaned by AIDS are the fastest growing marginalized group in Zimbabwe. By the end of 1996, about 8% of children aged 15 years old lost their mothers to AIDS in Zimbabwe. UNICEF reports that about 30% of younger sex workers in Kenya were HIV-positive. This high rate among young girls may be due to the belief that younger girls are less likely to be infected with HIV/AIDS. The UN estimates that 1 in 5 babies born to HIV-infected mothers becomes infected during delivery. 1 in 7 becomes infected during the breast feeding period. Breast feeding is protective against some diseases and avoids many safety risks but does not protect against AIDS.
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PMID:Over a million children have AIDS. 1232 Dec 42

The focus of the 1997 World AIDS Day was children. An estimated 1600 children become infected with HIV each day and, by the end of 1997, 1 million children--95% of them in developing countries--are expected to be HIV-infected. Another 8 million children have lost their mothers to AIDS. Although most HIV-positive children become infected as a result of maternal-child transmission during pregnancy, childbirth, and breast feeding, other risk factors such as child sex abuse, exploitation in the commercial sex trade, blood transfusions, and intravenous drug use are also significant in later years. Because of its devastating impact on social and economic life, the fight against AIDS is one of the most important challenges in the world today. The UNAIDS program, a joint venture of 6 UN agencies with expertise ranging from reproductive health care to economic development, is at the center of this effort.
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PMID:World AIDS Day focuses on children. 1232 5

The Southern African Network of AIDS Service Organizations (SANASO) was begun at a conference in Harare, Zimbabwe in May 1990, marking the 1st local unification of Non-Governmental agencies in AIDS prevention and care. This region has about 20% of Africa's reported AIDS cases, but has seen an 8-fold increase in 2 years. The goals of the organization are to facilitate sharing of information, ideas and experiences, to promote cooperation among the NGOs, to move toward common positions on AIDS and to articulate to the rest of the world the needs of the region as regards AIDS. While the incidence ranges from 6/million in Lesotho, to 906/million in Malawi, the countries represented have varied but pressing political and economic situations making HIV infection a serious threat. Examples are economic contraction with reduced funding of health and education; rapid urbanization; wars in Angola and Mozambique, with associated sexual abuse, refugees and displaced people; and in South Africa Apartheid, unemployment, forced relocation, violence and even suspicion of the government's AIDS program. Discussions on how the NGOs in particular can help change peoples' behavior resulted in the suggestion that they involve People With AIDS (PWA), to give the disease "a face" and lessen fear and alienation. The best example of such a successful approach is the home-based care instituted by Zambia's Chikankata Salvation Army Mission Hospital.
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PMID:Southern African NGOs seize the initiative. 1234 48


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