THIRUVANANTHPAURAM: The caretakers of children’s homes and Nirbhaya homes run by the state will be given training on ways to deal with the AIDS-affected. The move has been prompted by the increase in the number of child abuse victims lodged in the children’s homes. In the last one year, nearly 100 abused children, an alarming majority of them subjected to multiple abuse, had been admitted to these homes.
A top Social Justice Department official said that the training would be provided by Kerala State AIDS Control Society (KSACS). The training programme is expected to equip the caretakers to respond properly to suspected AIDS cases. “When faced with a suspect case, we have not been told what to do. Our only concern is to somehow get the child out of the home,” a caretaker said. This dumping will have serious repercussions for the child.
“There is the high chance that the child will not be infected and so will be wrongly branded as infected. But if infected, the child will forever be denied proper care and treatment forever,” the Social Justice official said. The training will focus mainly on four aspects: identification, confidentiality, care and counseling. As a first step, the caretakers will be given information on the various government-run anti-retroviral treatment (ART) centres in the state.
“The caretaker has to first take the child to nearest ART centre where the CD4 count will be taken. If the count is less than 350, the child is infected,” a senior KSACS officials said. The infected child will now have to be protected from societal or peer pressure. “Only the caretaker, called the house father and house mother, can insulate the child from the taunts of others,” the KSACS official said. While under their protection, the caretaker will also have to administer medicines without fail.
