Peter Richards
PORT OF SPAIN, Apr 11 2006 (IPS) – When his parents died from AIDS last year, John (not his real name) did not expect to be abandoned by his surviving relatives.
But the stigma surrounding the disease here remains potent. Left to fend for himself, John, 12, has become one of a growing number of young people who are being shunned by close relatives and friends, even as the authorities move to stamp out discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. He now resides at a home for abandoned children in south Trinidad.
Even grandparents, aunts and uncles seem very reluctant to step forward and say this is my family member, I am going to continue caring to see about this individual s education, health and welfare , said Amery Browne, technical director of the National AIDS Coordinating Committee, which includes youth groups, business associations, regional and international agencies and several government ministries.
Addressing a Rotary Club meeting here last week, Browne, a medical practitioner, said that the virus is decimating the safety net that once provided shelter for children when an adult died. No numbers are available regarding the number of AIDS orphans that end up in shelters, but experts believe it is a serious problem.
The impact of HIV and AIDS on the household is a loss of caregivers, income-earners and educators, Browne said, noting that the sad irony of the whole situation is that the loss of their parents to AIDS in turn makes these children more vulnerable to the disease.
Sometimes when family life is impaired, it leads to vulnerability to HIV, Browne said.
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The situation in Trinidad and Tobago has not yet reached the crisis that exists in some African countries, where HIV/AIDS has so reduced the population that many villages consist mainly of children and grandparents, with a missing generation of parents succumbing to the disease.
While the authorities here have announced a multi-million-dollar initiative to deal with HIV/AIDS and have launched various public education and awareness programmes, health officials like Browne are worried that other acts of discrimination may be driving the virus further underground.
We are talking about employment and challenges with employment. We have seen employers attempting to screen before hiring or firing when HIV status is known, Browne said, noting that many young people have taken an HIV test but failed to return for the results.
Many of those results are positive unclaimed results. So we know there is a lot more HIV out there and estimates vary, he added.
Since the first HIV/AIDS case was diagnosed here in 1983, Trinidad and Tobago has recorded more than 15,940 cases for the period ending in 2005, according to official figures, with 73 percent of new infections occurring in the 15-49 age group.
The Caribbean, excluding Cuba, has the world s second-highest HIV-infection rate at 2.4 percent, following Sub-Saharan Africa s estimated 8.8 percent. Trinidad s rate is about 2.5 percent.
The AIDS/HIV epidemic is not only killing people but may also be destroying our family structure and our sense of community, said an editorial in the Newsday newspaper that urged citizens to embrace the AIDS orphans .
It is the least we can do, the paper added.
Social workers have also reported an increase in the number of abandoned children, resulting in the proliferation of homes for abused and abandoned children across the country. Most of these homes provide just the basic necessities, but social workers say much more needs to be done.
Carol Ann McKenzie, a communication specialist at the Ministry of Social Development, said the government is in the process of establishing a children s authority to provide a regulatory framework to govern, monitor and review established and new homes for children, particularly those who have been abandoned.
Last year, the government announced it would spend 90 million dollars over five years to treat and prevent HIV, with the island s Prime Minister Patrick Manning saying, We must stop being ignorant about the virus. It is time to get our act together.
The World Bank is also providing a 20-million-dollar loan as part of the efforts to deal with the HIV/AIDS situation here.
Reducing the transmission of HIV/AIDS and providing treatment and care for those affected by the disease is critical for securing the future of Trinidad and Tobago s social and economic welfare, said Caroline Anstey, the World Bank s director for the Caribbean.
This loan supports the government of Trinidad and Tobago s goal to expand access to HIV/AIDS prevention care and treatment for all citizens, especially those who are most vulnerable to acquiring the disease.
Most of the public awareness programmes urge abstinence or the use of condoms, particularly among the youth population.
But Anderson Figaro, the founder of Voice of One Overcomers Club , a non-governmental group providing counselling and support for people with HIV/AIDS, says there is an unnecessary war among groups promoting abstinence and those promoting condoms.
Abstinence programmes are preaching sexual abstinence. Even if youths choose to abstain sexually, are they abstaining from drugs, which can induce sexual activity? Figaro said, urging both groups not to engage in a fight down of each other s efforts to deal with the virus.
He said when young people come to his organisation for counseling, the main issue is that they tell us they want guidance .
