HIV/AIDS affected Indian women cover their face during a demonstration to demand medicines for HIV-infected people from North Bengal Medical College, on the outskirts of north-eastern Indian city of Siliguri, April 4. - Reuters

Imagine being eight years old and uncertain that your mother will be around to see you grow up; a frightening thought! That's life for eight-year-old Crystal* whose mother carries the deadly HIV virus.

"When my mother told me she had the virus, I started crying. I don't want her to die because she's the only mother I have in the world, and I love her," says Crystal quietly. "She's my best friend and I'm going to miss her if she dies," she adds.

The students at Crystal's school in Kingston add to her distress by saying unkind things about her mother. "The children tease me about my mom all the time, and that makes me feel very sad and cry," she remarks.

Ten-year-old Sharmila* also faced discrimination, but from one of the most unexpected sources. Sharmila, who lost both her parents to AIDS, relates her experience. "When I went to school, I sat separately on the last mat. The other children wanted to be with me, but the teacher would tell them not to play with me." She stopped going to school in the fourth grade.

Like Sharmila, many of the children who lose both of their parents to HIV/AIDS are on the receiving end of even worse discrimination. Stevenis 14-years-old and lives with his paternal uncle, aunt and cousins, since his mother died of AIDS in 2003 (his father died in 2000). "My uncle thinks of me last when he gives out food, buy clothes, or school books. If there isn't enough money for all the school fees and books, I have to stay home, while my cousins goto school. My bed is a sack of cloth while everyone else sleeps on a mattress."

Risk factors

These children are among millions around the world, with one or both parents infected with the virus. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), it is estimated that by the year 2010, as many as 40 million children in developing countries will have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. Here in Jamaica, for every 1,000 pregnant women, 15 are infected with HIV.

According to the Ministry of Health here in Jamaica, among reported AIDS cases on which risk data are available (72 per cent), the main risk factors fuelling the HIV/AIDS epidemic are multiple sex partners, history of STDs, crack/ cocaine use and sex with prostitutes.

Monumental for children

While the disease has severe consequences for adults, the effects are monumental for children. Since the virus was first identified in 1981, the mothers of more than eight million children have died from AIDS. The illness or death of parents or guardians because of HIV/AIDS can rob a child of the emotional and physical support that defines and sustains childhood, and can limit choices and opportunities for successful survival throughout their lives.

Because 90 per cent of the world's HIV/AIDS victims can be found in developing countries, in many cases, children from families affected by the disease are forced to drop out of school to care of sick parents or to work, or are orphaned. According to the UNDP, they are often pushed onto the streets, forced into the worst forms of child labour, or otherwise exploited, raising the HIV risk.

Cari-Med Ltd. and the Pharmaceutical Society of Jamaica (PSJ) are two organisations that recognise these and other challenges children living with or affected by HIV/AIDS face. In an effort to raise funds for children affected by the disease, and elevate the tolerance levels among children as it relates to their peers living with HIV/AIDS, Cari-Med, in association with pharmacists islandwide and their professional society, the PSJ, will be staging its inaugural 5K Walk on Sunday, May 27. It will kick off at Emancipation Park, New Kingston.

Numerous challenges

Dubbed, 'Wellness and Care, Cari-Med and Pharmacists Walking You There', the walk is expected to be an exciting family affair for all ages. It is endorsed by the Ministry of Health, the Caribbean Association of Pharmacists, the Commonwealth Pharmacy Association, and The National Council on Drug Abuse.

"We came up with the idea for this campaign, because our research indicated that children living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, are facing numerous challenges," says Vevinne Walker, pharmacist and customer service manager at Cari-Med.

"Children quite often bear the brunt of adults' irresponsible behaviour. We recognise the stigma these particular children endure, and this campaign will seek to address some of these problems," she adds.

*Names changed

'When I went to school, I sat separately on the last mat. The other children wanted to be with me, but the teacher would tell them not to play with me.'

- Sharmila

'When my mother told me she had the virus, I started crying. I don't want her to die because she's the only mother I have in the world, and I love her. She's my best friend and I'm going to miss her if she dies.'

- Crystal