Description - During the first two decades of HIV epidemic, there were multiple challenged in providing clinical care to children living HIV. There were very few facilities for early diagnosis of HIV among children. Many pediatricians were not trained adequately to manage pediatric HIV. The pediatric formulations of ARV medicines were not easily available. The need for expansion of pediatric HIV services was acutely felt.
In response to this, the pediatric HIV program initiative was designed to enhance and consolidate pediatric HIV services in the state of Maharashtra.
Program achievements -
- Management of Pediatric HIV: A Physician’s Handbook – The handbook was developed by the team of Prayas with cooperation from other experienced physicians.
- An year-long training course (online + offline mode) was designed for pediatricians working in private sector from state of Maharashtra.
- To aid expansion of laboratory services, a laboratory was set up at Prayas. Through this, laboratory investigations necessary for early infant diagnosis of HIV (DNA PCR testing), and management of pediatric HIV cases (CD4 counts, viral load and genotyping for drug resistance testing) were provided free of costs
- A six month project aimed at saturating PMTCT services in a district was undertaken. Solapur, one of the high prevalence districts in the state of Maharashtra, was chosen for the same. Many activities such as HIV campaigning, awareness programs, outreach and training of private sector health care providers, were held in the district during the project timespan. For village level penetration, 40 peer educators (Prayas Maitrinee) as well as Anganwadi workers were trained
- Networking with and training of different district level networks of people living with HIV and NGOs working on HIV/AIDS and maternal and child health issues were conducted.
- Development of resource material - A film ’Blur’, was prepared on the issue of HIV disclosure in HIV infected children. The film is meant for caregivers of HIV infected children portrays the importance of disclosure and the possible consequences if the child is not disclosed about its disease.
Start date - January 2008
End date - December 2010
Funding support – Abott Foundation