HIV infected children caregivers require more support: Govindasamy

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Caregivers, who support children and adolescents living with HIV in South Africa need more support. This is according to Dr Darshini Govindasamy, a scientist at the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC).

Govindasamy is leading a team of scientists in a trial stage of the Caregiver Wellbeing Plus programme.

The programme has trained and financially equipped over 200 women in Durban, who care for children living with the virus.

There are over 1 million children living with HIV in South Africa. The majority of these cases are in KwaZulu-Natal.

“South Africa is one of the largest number of people living with HIV. It has one of the largest number of adolescents living with HIV.”

Healthcare professionals say caring for these young HIV positive patients can be daunting with issues of stigmatisation and depression impacts how they respond to their ARV treatment.

VIDEO: Caregiver Wellbeing Plus programme empowering KZN families impacted by HIV:

Zanele Ndlovu has worked her way through the programme. Her sister died from AIDS related illness leaving her as the legal guardian of her two children who are also HIV positive.

She described raising the children, “Back than it was hard for me to raise these children, especially the teenager because he was starting to be rebellious. But after the programme, I managed to sit with him down. When my sister died she had already disclosed to the 17-year-old . But now the three-year-old is still very young to understand. But I believe this programme has equipped me with enough knowledge to go through this route.”

Noxolo Khuzwayo and her 11-year-old son have HIV. She says telling him about his HIV status was not easy. Khuzwayo says it has also been tough to see him being bullied at school, hurt by the stigma.

“It has been hard raising my son. I told him about his status when he was seven. Him being bullied at school for being HIV was the worst of all. I had to speak to the teachers about his status. Today we are coping because this programme has helped me to educate him about his treatment and status.”

Nonhlanhla Ngcobo is raising her two HIV positive teenage children with limited finances.

“I really needed this program, I needed help because when I was still struggling. Whenever I give my children medication they would say they are hungry and sometimes we wouldn’t have enough food. We only depended on grant money.”

Govindasamy, is calling for more programs and government collaborations to expand the programme.

“We have resources in the country and more needs to be done to improve the lives of these women because essentially they are the backbone of our communities. It is critical and so yes I believe that more needs to be done. But that does require a scientist to show government the way by bringing them the data that they need to change policies.”

The next phase is expected to rollout the programme to rural areas and across the country.

Some of the names in this report have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees.

HIV & AIDS I Child, adolescent caregivers need more support: