In the effort to address the issue of countless number of children living with HIV/AIDS in Manipur, a child-friendly space was newly created at the Paediatric Centre of Excellence (PCoE) in Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), Imphal, to provide the much-needed social support and motivation to infected children.
The newly created child friendly room at the Paediatric Centre of Excellence have vibrant art work on the walls and attractive toys for the children to play. This small step taken after decades of setting up of the PCoE would help to provide the comfort zone to the patients to some extent, which is one key strategy to strictly follow up along with their treatment.
Speaking exclusively to the Imphal Free Press, programme director, PCoE, Dr Nandeibam Kameshor Singh, said the main purpose of creating this child friendly space in PCoE is to help change the perception of a child - from viewing the ART centre as a “hospital” to a “friendly centre” in the effort to build their confidence.
To control this infection, following medical prescription alone is not enough but it also requires the right kind of social, moral and emotional support system. These are some of the basic components in building all round development of an individual, the programme director said.
“Before setting up this child friendly space, a room was provided where the patient could sit and wait for their turn to access the treatment provided under PCoE. But it was not that satisfactory. However, this new space where children can play with the available toys, or entertain themselves by watching television and where a lactating mother can feed their children in privacy encourages them to visit the centre,” he added.
Parents and children are delighted to see the child-friendly centre under the initiative of the Project-Accelerate and Manipur State AIDS Control Society, said Kameshor, who is also professor and head of the Pediatric department, JNIMS.
"Sometimes ART patients fail to adhere to their treatment in between. To prevent such, the institute is making all possible efforts by setting a target of suppressing the viral load of HIV in every ART patient to undetectable levels. As we know that bringing down the level of HIV to target not detected (TNT) is non-transferable,” he informed.
Kameshor said that since the inception of the RPC ART, 2,000 patients (children below 15 years along with their parents if they are infected) were enrolled in the centre.
At present, the number of patients registered is 793. But owing to lack of follow up efforts, the number of patients who are on ART in the PCoE is only 414. Of them, 296 are below 15 years and 118 are their parents or guardians.
Of the total 296 children, 146 are boys and 150 girls. Whereas, among parents or guardians, 32 are males and 86 are females. So far, 57 children (29 boys and 28 girls) and six parents or guardians (five females and one males) died of HIV or AIDS related diseases, he said. However, in the past three to four years, the number of new HIV infections among children is negligible, he added.
Appealing to people in the state to contribute in eliminating HIV or AIDS in the state, he said that test and treatment is one of the major keys to control HIV transmission worldwide. No woman should hesitate to undergo HIV testing during pregnancy and institutional delivery to prevent HIV transmission to their children, he added.
The Paediatric Centre of Excellence provides treatment to HIV/AIDS patients - Antiretroviral Therapy - and capacity buildings are provided exclusively for children below 15 years and along with their guardians or parents or caretakers if they are also People Living with HIV and AIDS. The centre, the only one in North East India (out of seven in India), was set up on December 5, 2011 under the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) covering its service almost in all other NE states, except Assam and Sikkim.
This centre was earlier known as the Regional Paediatric Centre (RPC) ART in JNIMS. It was started in March 2007. Initially, due to lack of infrastructure, this centre provided ART treatment service for adults too. But later in November 2008, RPC ART was separated from adult ART. ART is a lifelong treatment that should be accessed by every HIV-infected person to suppress the virus to undetectable levels. Hence, visiting the ART centre is an essential activity in the life of HIV-AIDS patients.
