Malawi seems on track to ensure every adult living with HIV know their status, start treatment right away and take the drugs consistently to enjoy healthy and longer lives.
Last year, the country celebrated achieving most of the 95-95-95 targets, which require at least 95 percent of people with HIV to know their status, 95 percent of them to be on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and 95 percent of those taking antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) adhere to medication until their viral load can neither be detected nor transmitted.
However, children with the virus that causes Aids are being left behind.
long travels to Chitipa district Hospital
A 13-year-old disguised as Martin is a living example.
The boy, from Senior Chief Mwabulambya in Chitipa District, has been living with his grandmother since he lost his mother.
When the granny died in 2022, his uncle fled to Tanzania after selling the two goats Martin had received from Thembi Community Initiative Organisation.
“After granny’s death, I was staying alone. I often slept on an empty stomach, forcing me to skip medication,” recounts the Standard Three learner.
His suffering swayed his late grandmother’s neighbour to take him in.
Similarly, a 15-year-old renamed Hope to conceal his identity lost his mother last year.
Since then, he has been living with his father living with a mental disorder.
He used to wash plates at a local restaurant before and after going to school.
“I sometimes went to sleep hungry, forcing me to skip my ARVs. One time, my father wanted to kill me because of his condition,” Hope narrates.
He salutes Thembi Community Initiative for supporting him.
“Without their support, I would have died. I was suicidal,” he says.
Thembi supports Hope’s learning at a boarding primary school.
He asks more players to support children living with HIV.
Thembi Community Initiative Organisation programmes director Patrick Ziba says apart from education support, the non-governmental organisation provides food and transport to children living with HIV during the ART clinic.
Ziba says many children from Senior Chief Mwabulambya’s rural community were walking long distances to access HIV treatment at Chitipa District Hospital.
“Others were not going for ART as they had to walk all the way from Chendo to access ART at Chitipa Boma,” he says.
Thembi started giving transport money and ready-made nutritious food for the children and their guardians.
“We need more players in this sector to achieve the 95-95-95 target,” he says.
Thembi uses an old motorcycle to reach children livinf in remote areas.
The organisation grows maize, groundnuts and soya beans on its 14-acre farm.
Its staff produces porridge flour called Thembi phala for treating malnutrition in wasting children.
They also donate 25 kilogramme bags of maize flour to poor households during the lean period from December to March.
The organisation also distributes pigs and goats in a pass-on programme, which targets households with children on ART.
Chitipa district ART coordinator Thomson Chirwa says the long travels to access HIV treatment and nutritional support are challenging for the children on ART.
He asked other non – governmental organisations to help the healthcare system track defaulters.
He said: “Chitipa District Hospital, Kameme and Nthalire health centres do not have defaulters because Partners in Hope supports these health facilities to tracks all defaulters and bring them back to care.
“However, we still have a problem with sites that are not supported,” he said.
In terms of the 95-95- 95 targets, the 2023 HIV epidemiological estimates shows that children are at 71-100-79 while adults have hit 94-98-94.
National Aids Commission HIV prevention and management officer Francis Mabedi says progress remains slow among children below 15.
He attributes the trend to low support from parents and guardians to improve adherence, stigma and discrimination faced by young people living with HIV as well as self-stigma that makes them to look down upon themselves.
Mabedi says an unsupportive environment in some schools disrupts adherence to the life-prolonging drugs.
He says: “To improve the three 95s for children, we need concerted efforts in supporting the children to improve the ART uptake.
“We need to encourage children living with HIV to associate with support groups for such young people to learn tips on positive living and other vital information.”
“ Treatment is a preventive strategy. Everyone should know the importance of helping people living with HIV to adhere to treatment as a way of improving their health and reducing new HIV infections,” he says.n
