We've all heard the stories, the headlines, and been fed the statistics about the toll HIV and AIDS is taking on Belize. At the end of 2003 which is the most recent year for which there is complete data, there were 2,676 persons in Belize living with the disease, that's 1% of the population and experts note, that's only what has been reported, there is a vast unreported population of persons living with AIDS and HIV. But all the news about HIV has been about its effect on the adult population because it's an adult disease right? Well, not really. A new study by UNICEF shows that while HIV and AIDS is eating away at the workforce, the real threat is to Belize's future. Keith Swift Reports.
Minerva Jolly, Cornerstone Foundation
"We're going to have a lack of manpower because these kids are the carpenters, the lawyers, the policemen, the teachers, and the doctors of tomorrow. So for one thing its going to be a lack of manpower and HIV is going to continue because if we don't educate our children, if we don't educate ourselves, we will just have more HIV. Its very very simple."
And simply put: 2,000 Belizean children are already orphaned and 14,000 more are believed vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. That amounts to one out of every 10 children. UNICEF compiled a report and Program Officer Roy Bowen says these children aren't necessarily infected with HIV/AIDS but they are affected by it.
Roy Bowen, Program Officer, UNICEF
"Vulnerable means that it is likely that something bad is likely to happen to them as a consequence of HIV/Aids. It doesn't mean necessarily that every child we talk about in that 1 out 10 who is vulnerable actually has HIV and Aids. It means as a result of maybe somebody in their family, a mother, a father, or both having HIV and Aids, or may have died, it puts them in a situation where they'll probably will not be able to go to school and finish school, their health might deteriorate, they might not have the necessary nutritional support, the social support, and the community support. That is what we are talking about."
Minerva Jolly,
"Maybe the moms has Aids, maybe the dad, maybe the grandma, and maybe all the money in the family is going towards taking care of a person with Aids so that child has to be neglected because of that. There are many reasons why children vulnerable."
Children who these policymakers say are innocent victims and most times the forgotten casualties in the ravaging aids pandemic.
Roy Bowen,
"You will see that the messages are going out and attention is being drawn to the fact that adults are in a position, the messages are targeted to them. Children in many instances are dependent, and have to be on adults, so if an adult would do some of the things that are required, take on some of the responsibility it would eliminate some of the problems now being faced by children. Its people thinking it will never happen to them and as a consequence it has happened to them children now become in many instances the victims of behaviors that in many instances have led to this. In some instance it is, as you know shown HIV is transmitted to the child, unless its blood transfusion, then its probably happens as a result of being passed on my parents or as a result of sexual contact which is another issue that I think we must deal with."
And Bowen says that is a must or else:
Roy Bowen,
"If we don't address this issue we're going to see a lot of children being raised by relatives and a lot of children who will eventually end up in the care of themselves if we don't have sufficient adults around to take care of the children. We're going to have children raising children and that is not an issue that I think we want to be a part of."
Minerva Jolly and her Cornerstone Foundation is working with UNICEF to formulate a national support network to address the problem. Jolly says the problem strikes at the heart of the community and it will need a community to respond.
Minerva Jolly,
"It has been found that community based organizations do best when it comes to vulnerable children. What we're going to do is try and set up a network, to establish a network whereby people and organizations and the community can contribute so that we can supply the needs of children that are vulnerable because of HIV and Aids. There are programs in place to try to tackle this. For instance there's a program that addresses the prevention of the transmission between the mother and the child. We have free medications for the mother and for the child but people have to learn about these programs and they have to go out and access this assistance that's already there. We have to become HIV friendly and one of the best ways to promote that is letting everybody know that we're all vulnerable. Anyone of us can get HIV. This disease is not prejudice. This disease will attack anybody and unfortunately a lot of our children are being attacked."
The Ministry of Health has an aggressive program to prevent mother to child transmission. 67 pregnant mothers tested positive for HIV last year and what's alarming is that 17 of those expectant mothers this was their second pregnancy after knowing their status. Out of those 67 HIV positive mothers, 35 were younger than 25 years old.
