{"id":13890,"date":"2016-04-20T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/medicine-education-solidarity-how-hiv-infected-children-can-have-a-future-58444\/"},"modified":"2016-04-20T12:01:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T12:01:00","slug":"medicine-education-solidarity-how-hiv-infected-children-can-have-a-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/04\/medicine-education-solidarity-how-hiv-infected-children-can-have-a-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicine, education, solidarity: how HIV-infected children can have a future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Rome, Italy, Apr 20, 2016 \/ 06:01 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- The goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat is achievable if attention is focused on children infected with HIV, participants in a recent conference held by Caritas International emphasized.<\/p>\n

Monsignor Robert Vitillo, who has been involved in healthcare issues for 30 years, said there is already progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThirty years ago, we could only accompany people to a dignified death. There was no treatment,\u201d he told CNA. \u201cAt the moment, there is still no cure, but drugs can let you live. Some children have been under treatment for more than 10 years. They get older, they have a future.\u201d
\n\u00a0
\n\u201cWe need to do more, as only 45 percent of needy people have access to drugs, while the rest of the world is sentenced to death,\u201d said the monsignor, who heads Caritas International\u2019s delegation to the United Nations in Geneva.<\/p>\n

He was one of the participants in a conference on AIDS held in Rome April 11-13 at the Vatican Secretariat of State\u2019s Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital. The event was organized by Caritas International, the Catholic umbrella organization that includes more than 160 Catholic relief agencies all over the world.
\n\u00a0
\nMsgr. Vitillo saw three main reasons why children do not have access to HIV treatment.
\n\u00a0
\n\u201cFirst, the drugs are very expensive: costs are lower now, but in most poor countries the access to treatment costs $100 per year. It is too much for a poor person,\u201d he explained. \u201cMore international solidarity is needed.\u201d
\n\u00a0
\nHe then noted the difficulty in diagnosing AIDS in a young child.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tests are expensive, they are not always possible. In addition, drugs for children are not easy to produce, as it is quite complicated to estimate the dosages,\u201d he said.
\n\u00a0
\nThere is also a stigma about HIV infection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many mothers who undergo tests for themselves and their children, but they never go to get the results,\u201d Msgr. Vitillo said. \u201cThey are scared. They fear that their husband or partner will blame the infection on them.\u201d
\n\u00a0
\nEducation is the only way to overcome the stigma, the priest said. He thought the Catholic Church can be \u201ca great part\u201d of this process.
\nBob Kickert, an American who works for Cabrini Ministries in Swaziland, agreed with the importance of education.
\n\u00a0
\n\u201cI live in one of the countries where HIV infection has had the biggest impact, though it is a very small country. But the real issue is not access to drugs,\u201d he told CNA.
\n\u00a0
\nKickert saw changing social norms as the priority to help prevent HIV infection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of poverty, and there is a patriarchal society that does not value women and considers women as men\u2019s property,\u201d he said.
\n\u00a0
\nThe biggest challenge is to heal and rehabilitate women who are infected by HIV.<\/p>\n

Other social practices can also help.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven merely keeping girls in school is a strategy to prevent infection,\u201d Kickert said.
\n\u00a0
\nDoctor Prince Bosco Kanani, vice president of the Rwandan Healthcare Federation, said he is optimistic about the future.
\n\u00a0
\n\u201cWe are certain we can end AIDS,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat happened in Rwanda is a proof of it. We decreased the number of the HIV infected by 50 percent in the last decades, and the mortality rate was reduced by 70 percent. If Rwanda can do it, with a few resources, the goal is really achievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Msgr. Vitillo recommended more networks and collaboration to fight AIDS.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the tools and the possibility to end AIDS as a public threat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rome, Italy, Apr 20, 2016 \/ 06:01 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- The goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat is achievable if attention is focused on children infected with HIV, participants in a recent conference held by Caritas International emphasized.
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