As much as 36 per cent of children with HIV have no access to medical care, a joint survey by Rwanda Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS and Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) shows. 

Vianney Byiringiro Rusisiro, a senior paediatric officer at RBC, said effective treatment of HIV-positive children is hindered by mindsets of parents who do not reveal their children’s status.

The issue is compounded by lack of coordination between service providers and communities for the children to receive adequate care, he said.

Rusisiro cited an example where last year, 773 children were found to be HIV-positive, but only 559 were on treatment and yet there was no trace of the others.

"We are looking into how to strengthen community mobilsation and advocacy for treatment services for HIV-positive children. Increased collaboration between the HIV network and community health service providers will help change mindsets of parents and guardians not to fear stepping forward to be tested,” he said.

A 25-year-old girl born with HIV, who preferred anonymity, recounted how her mother had died when she was nine but her parents had not revealed to her that she was infected.

"They never took me for testing. I would fall sick but never thought I would be HIV-positive. It was when I went to hospital when I was 15 that medics found I was HIV-positive. It was a scary experience but nurses counselled me,” she narrated.

The girl said, in 2007, while she was in boarding school, her friends always wondered why she was taking so many pills.

"I would lie that it was due to my acute coughing. I finally stopped taking them to avoid the constant glare from my schoolmates.”

But the decision was costly as she suffered from serious allergies and her CD4 count went down significantly until she went back to hospital and resumed her medication in 2009.

The girl, now a university student, said she has become a case study for her colleagues.

Andrew Uwayezu, the chairperson of the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, said the network was now operating in 27 districts with more than 100 peer educators to continue advocacy and mobilisation, but stressed that there was still lack of capacity to provide adequate motivation and site visits or supervision.

Dr Sibongile Dludlu, UNAIDS country representative, said although Rwanda had registered much progress in this area, there was still need for more collaboration in community mobilisation and coordination.

She said, globally, 3.2 million children under 15 live with HIV, and, of these, 91 per cent are from sub-Saharan Africa, 6 per cent in Asia, with the rest of the world contributing 3 per cent of the figure.

The prevalence of HIV in Rwanda has recently slightly decreased from 3 per cent to 2.9 per cent.

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