Medical Care for Children in Nepal with HIV/AIDS

While construction workers are hard at work building a permanent new home for the children at the New Life Center, the center continues to offer an oasis from the social isolation, medical neglect, and physical and emotional abandonment that HIV-affected children in Nepal often face.

The program’s doctor, nutritionist, and staff provide educational activities for the children and helpful trainings for the adult caretakers. Last year, 49 children received treatment, which includes nutritious meals, medical care, and psychological counseling. This holistic approach is the only program of its kind for HIV-positive children in Nepal.

HIV affected children and their mothers are often treated as outcasts in Nepal. The government offers limited treatment programs and hospitals refuse to provide medical care. Schools shut their doors. Non-infected children won’t play with them, and they’re banned from village activities. The children quickly become very sick, and feel brutally ostracized.

Over 80% of the children arrive at the New Life Center acutely undernourished and full of opportunistic infections. Three months after arriving at the center, more than 90 percent of the children return home at a normal weight, free of associated infections. The mothers return to their village with the knowledge and tools to care for their children.

The new center under construction outside of Kathmandu will improve both access and quality to HIV/AIDS treatment and services in Nepal for years to come. We hope to open the doors in October.

Thank you for your generous support of some of the most vulnerable children in Nepal.

Namaste!

Links:

• Nepal Youth Foundation