Children Affected by HIV

Online, November 29, 2009 (Newswire.com) - Health providers have long been aware of the approximate numbers of children who are infected by HIV in the UK but no one knows the numbers of affected children, according to research carried out by Children With AIDS Charity (CWAC).

Data collected by CWAC has demonstrated that there are an absolute minimum of 19,200 HIV affected children living in the UK today - an increase of 550% since 1995 when Barnardos estimated numbers.

"HIV/AIDS has killed 25 million people worldwide and infected 33 million others but the plight of children affected by the global epidemic, who are living in the UK, is still largely unknown," said Naylor, Chief Executive of the charity.

In the last ten years, there have been major changes within the HIV community due to advances in treatments. Life expectancy continues to improve and the numbers of HIV positive babies being born has dropped significantly. There has been a corresponding increase in the numbers of HIV affected babies being born. These are children who are growing up dealing with long-term parental illness, excessive caring duties, poverty, stigma, multiple bereavements, institutional care, fostering and isolation.

CWAC's research study (An Analysis of HIV Affected Children in the UK, CWAC 2009) covered a caseload of 3,200 families and over 4,000 children.

Bev James, the charity Services Co-ordinator said, "the government and the public are not well informed about the circumstances of children who are affected by HIV, because there is no reliable method to determine the total numbers of children, such as those who were born abroad. There is an absence of data collected on the HIV-infected relatives of children other than their mothers."

"If we neglect the implications of these statistics, then this almost invisible group of children will be forgotten about, and the quality of their lives will not improve." Naylor added.

Key Research Findings:
* 90% of beneficiaries live in families that are unemployed due to illness, redundancy or long-term isolation.
* 70% of the families consist of single parents.
* 37% do not have access to dental care
* 46% have no access to a social worker
* 9% of families are homeless
* 18% can't provide their children with 3 meals a day.
* 17% can't provide them with a warm winter coat
* 19% can't buy their children appropriate footwear
* 37% can't buy their children 2 sets of school clothes
* 40% can't buy them school sports equipment or fund any extra curricular activities
* 42% do not have the means to provide their children the opportunity to enjoy at least one school trip a year

James urged the government to increase funding for hardship services targeting children living in poverty.

More than 65,000 HIV infected individuals (of all ages) in Britain are living with HIV according to the Health Protection Agency, which monitors infectious diseases.

Children With AIDS Charity has been supporting the youngest of those infected or closely affected by HIV/AIDS for 17 years. Since the recession, there has been a 40% increase in referrals to the Hardship service.