Children

In the past week UNICEF has positively acknowledge a number of strides taken by the Egyptian government in the last week to abolish the traditional and horrendous practice of female circumcision or female genital mutilation (FGM). The governments actions where heavily incited after the recent death of a 12 year-old girl. The girl, Badour Shaker, who died at on June 29th, after having the FGM procedure preformed in an illegal medical clinic. Egypt’s Health and Population Minister has issued a decree fully criminalizing FGM and closing a previous loophole involving health professionals conducting the practice, UNICEF said July 2 (UN News).

Badour Shaker

This is not the first step the Egyptian government has taken to abolish FGM, the political and legal strides began in 1959 when it was forbidden to practice FGM, and could result in a fine or imprisonment. A number of ministerial decrees followed, which allowed some forms of FGM to be practiced, while also prohibiting doctors from conducting FGM’s in government health facilities, and banning all non-medical persons from practicing FGM. However in 1994 following a CNN broadcast of a 9 year old girl being give a procedure by a barber, a law was established allowing FGM to be performed in government health facilities one day a week by trained medical personnel. The 1994 law was overturned in 1995, after various protests. In December 1997, a full government ban on FGM, prohibiting all medical and non-medical persons from performing FGM, unless certified as a medical reasons. Under the 1997 ban, violators could have faced loss of their medical license, and could face criminal charges, or penal manslaughter charge in the case of death.

The loophole of allowing FGM to be preformed if certified for medical reasons, was what prompted the government to update the laws, and truly place a full ban on FGM. Unfortunately by making all forms and cases of FGM illegal, will not completely eradicate the practice. FGM is still heavily practiced in many other African nations, including the surrounding nation of Sudan, which has a 90% prevalence of FGM, according to UNICEF. It is estimated that around 3 million girls undergo FGM every year in Africa alone. A 2005 UNICEF report showed that 97% of girls and woman 15-49, in Egypt had experienced some type of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, A Statistical Exploration).

There is no religious doctrine for Female circumcision, and it is not conducted with any religious bias in Egypt, the practice has continued by both Muslims and Christians. FMG is done various reasons, or under multiple guises, however the most common reason indicated for FGM is to preserve a girls virginity. FGM can be the partial or full removal of the external genitalia. FGM can often be fatal, especially when done in none sanitary condition, and/or by non-medically trained persons, which can often cause excessive bleeding, transmission of disease, or shock. The complications and long term effects of FGM, can include; pain, infertility, difficulties in child birth, trouble with menstruation or urination, problems and extreme pain with intercourse, lack of sexual desire, no sexual stimulation, and mental illness.

The changes in Egyptian law will hopefully bring an end to this barbaric practice, that is physically, sexually and mentally abusive to young girls. Female Genital Mutilation, or Circumcision, mentally and physically scar’s girls for their entire lives!

Links:
State Department Report on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Egypt
Female Genital Mutilation – The Facts
Giving up on FGM: why a village midwife put down her scalpel
World Health Organization (WHO) - Female Genital Mutilation
Razor’s Edge: The Controversy of Female Genital Mutilation
CHANGING A HARMFUL SOCIAL CONVENTION: FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING

In India there are currently fewer than 2.5 million people with HIV/AIDS, according to a senior health official on July 3, this is almost 60% lower than the UN’s last estimate of 5.7 million. This new and substantially lower new figure, which came from an updated survey, would then place India not as the country with the highest HIV caseload, but now place it third, behind South Africa and Nigeria. The official announcement, which is due tomorrow, July 6, with the new figure that was calculated with the help of international agencies including the UN and USAID. (Reuters)

Many have feared that India would remain the world leader in HIV/AIDS, especially as it began to surpass South Africa around 5 years ago. Local NGO’s had placed significant pressure on the government to act with more urgency and heavily criticized the governments lack of speed in tackling the issue. The sex industry, especially in cities such as Mumbai, has seen a substantially high proportion of the virus. India is also a country with a large majority of the population in rural and secluded villages, with high illiteracy rates and are continuing to fight against child labor and human trafficking. Nonetheless, India has been more proactive than many of it’s counterparts in inciting prevention programs, however many of the countries high risk groups fail to see the results of these program, due to the criminal status of their actions. It is difficult to prevent the virus among groups, such as homosexuals, if one is seen to be aiding criminal activities, or working against centuries of social stigmas. As with many other countries the social stigma of HIV/AIDS, has helped fuel the spread the virus and shun many of it’s victims.

“Children are being turned away from schools, clinics and orphanages because they or their family members are HIV-positive. If the Indian government is serious about fighting the country’s AIDS epidemic, it should stop ignoring children affected by AIDS and start protecting them from abuse. “
- Zama Coursen-Neff, Senior Researcher with Human Rights Watch’s Children’s Rights Division

Many activists are still concerned that the issues is not getting the full attention that it needs, even in the wake of these developments and lower estimates of infected persons in India. Some such activists stated concern over the ‘lower estimate, especially in a country where over 40 percent of the women have not heard of AIDS.’ “A lower estimate may reduce the political will to fight the virus and people may start taking the threat of AIDS lightly. This is a danger,” said Christy Abraham, the Indian team leader for HIV/AIDS at voluntary group ActionAid International. (India HIV Caseload Seen Dramatically Lower)

Another issue of grave concern is that many believed the previous figures for HIV/AIDS infected persons in India, did not adequately represent all of the viruses victims, mainly children. Estimates of 60,000-100,000 children are said not to have been included in the previous figures, this leads many to question any new figures for high discrepancy. In 2004 Human Rights Watch issued a report saying the ‘Indian government is putting millions at risk by ignoring such children.’ “Children affected by HIV/AIDS are being discriminated against in education and health services, denied care by orphanages, and pushed onto the streets and into the worst forms of child labor,” Zama Coursen-Neff, the author of the report, told The Associated Press in an interview (India’s AIDS Children Shunned). The Indian government stated, that while children had been being ignored, they have been working to correct the situation and place children in higher focus, including in the areas of HIV/AIDS. One can only hope for the sake of all children in India that this is the case, and the the numbers of those with HIV/AIDS is truly on the decrease and will continue in its decline.

As you spend the day celebrating the 4th with your family and friends, don’t forget the meaning of the day…Freedom! For many freedom is only a dream, there are 27 million people who are enslaved around the world. So enjoy your family and friends this year as you BBQ, swim, play and laugh; but don’t forget to use your freedom and voice for those who have been silenced by the chains of slavery.

Xolani Nkosi Johnson, was born with HIV on on February 4, 1989, in South Africa, he was passed on the virus from his mother Nonthlanthla Daphne Nkosi. Many never gave Nkosi a chance to live, but this little boy was not just born with HIV, was born with a fighting spirit that few of us ever have. When the world was turned against him, he found a way to show the world that life is valuable, and no matter how short it is, we have much to give and learn.
In 1991, when Nkosi was only 2 he was placed in an overcrowded AIDS care center, after his mother was too sick to care for him. It was there that Gail Johnson, met Nkosi and his mother. The center where Nkosi was, was soon forced to close due to a lack of funding. Nkosi’s mother was by this time very sick, but also lived in fear of the stigma the virus would bring to her son, and the out lash that would come from her village, so she placed Nkosi in the loving care of Gail Johnson. It was with Gail Johnson that Nkosi found a second chance, and a second mom.

With the support and encouragement from “Mommy Gail”, Nkosi used his voice to tell the world about HIV/AIDS. Gail and Nkosi fought to have Nkosi in school, a battle that they not only won, but where also successful in bringing national attention the educational rights of children with HIV/AIDS. The case of Nkosi forced the Educational Department to establish a policy on the issue, and helped in the destigmatization of HIV/AIDS.

Nkosi continued to see his mother, and family, while with his foster mother, who fought tirelessly for all victims of HIV/AIDS. Nkosi’s mother died of AIDS on April , 1997 when he was 8, she spent the remainder of her life fighting for live and the strength of her son, who doctors told her would not live to be a year old.

In 1999 Gail and Nkosi Johnson founded Nkosi’s Haven’s, to help other mothers and children with HIV/AIDS live their lives in peace, without fear, so they would not have to suffer needlessly for societies ignorance and face the stigmas that Nkosi and his mother Daphne had to face.

“Our dream is to establish care centres for HIV/AIDS mothers and their children (infected or not) to ensure that they are able to live in an environment of acceptance and understanding. Here they will learn to care for themselves and their children and cope effectively with the new challenges that HIV/AIDS will present to them.”

Nkosi Johnson spoke at the 13th International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, on January 9, 2001, his words moved and inspired the world:

“I want people to understand about Aids - to be careful and respect Aids - you can’t get Aids if you touch, hug, kiss, hold hands with someone who is infected. Care for us and accept us - we are all human beings. We are normal. We have hands. We have feet. We can walk, we can talk, we have needs just like everyone else - don’t be afraid of us - we are all the same!”

Nkosi lost his fight with AIDS on June 1, 2001 at the age of 13, he was the longest surviving child born with AIDS in South Africa, and in his short life he lived and loved, not like a child who was dying, but like he was living for all of us. Through the millions of lives he touched, he will continue to live on and touch millions more.

Let Nkosi be if anything for you, a reminder of the power and voice a child has.

Links:
Nkosi’s Haven
Nkosi Foundation
Bio on Nkosi

HIV/AIDS is a true pandemic, and unless we take serious action, it will continue to plague us for generations, and generations to come. AIDS has taken more than 20 million lives, and HIV has infected more than 60 million people worldwide. But the virus doesn’t stop there, it continues to devastate families and villages around the world, and has left at least 15 million children as orphans. The worst hit region is Sub-Saharan Africa, where the virus has been on the rapid increase, and UNICEF predicts that, while the number of orphans has already doubled due to the virus, “by 2010 50 million orphaned children, and more than a third will have lost one or both parents to AIDS”. While the numbers in Sub-Saharan Africa are high, ‘from just under 2% in 1990 to over 28% in 2003′, the numbers in Asia are higher, mainly as they have, four times more children, but their numbers are decreasing, unlike their African Counterparts.

In America when we think of HIV/AIDS we mostly tend to think back, to the 90s, but in many parts of the world today the fight against HIV/AIDS is only just beginning. In Africa alone there are around 30 million people with the virus, 3 million of which are children under 15. Though the spread of AIDS varies in many countries, Sub Saharan Africa is suffering disproportionately, much of which is due to extreme poverty and civil unrest or war. In some countries a shocking one out of every three adult may be infected, leaving many children at risk and millions more parent less.

There are major developments in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, yet much of the world has little access to these drug treatments. And while education and research has help us to prevent the disease, many in the developing world are still struggling to understand the epidemic before them, and a great deal needs to be done to inform and educate, especially in rural areas. Research has made widespread therapy for HIV possible, antiretroviral (ARV) drugs can suppress the virus and the ARV treatments are simple, yet those receiving ARV treatment remains incredibly low.

In 2006, Save the Children issued the report, Making HIV and AIDS Financing Work for Children, in the report they claimed that an estimated $1.6 billion is needed each year. The only governments which have committed funds to children fighting HIV/AIDS are the UK, US and Ireland. Save the Children recommended, the needs of children receive much higher priority within all HIV/AIDS programs, as “current financing levels are insufficient and there is an urgent need to mobilize more resources while addressing the bottlenecks that prevent funds from reaching children”. Save the Children also recommended that more attention be given to all areas effecting children affected by HIV/AIDS, especially in the areas of decreasing transmission, and providing treatment to children with the virus.

Everyday a children loose parent’s, children suffer, and children die…and these children will all die in vain if we do not pull together and fight to end this plague. For it is not just death that we must fear, but also life, for what hope is there in a village that has lost most of its adults, to a nation who fails to cope with disease? The survivors of HIV/AIDS continue to live in fear and desperation, as well as poverty, and this will only drive the millions of children into unimaginable futures. We can fight this virus, we can win, but we must not forget the children caught in the midst of the struggle, and we can not fail the future generations to come. We live in an amazing age of technology and promise, let us use our resources to fight AIDS everywhere, not just at home!

Links:
UNICEF - HIV/AIDS and Children
UNAIDS
Human Rights Watch - HIV/and Children’s Rights
AVERT-HIV, AIDS and Children
Woman, Children and HIV
Save the Children -HIV/AIDS Program
Youth AIDS Coalition
Children With AIDS Project of America
Kids Health -HIV/AIDS - Information to help you talk to children
The Body - Young People and Aids Information and Resources
Talking With Kids - HIV and AIDS
The Presidents Plan for Emergency AIDS Relief