Families are the cornerstones of a strong society, yet when parents or children become sick from HIV/AIDS, a family’s ability to cope with the economic, social and emotional impact of the disease can be severely diminished. Caring for children can impose serious hardship on extended families and communities, and many families are headed by children who have been orphaned. Under national strategies and in coordination with host governments, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Emergency Plan/PEPFAR) focuses special attention on the prevention, treatment and care needs of families impacted by HIV/AIDS.
In 2004, Isablita Orlando and her three children were beginning to lose hope. The father of Evancia, her daughter, had recently died of an AIDS-related illness, and Isablita was very ill and not expected to live. The Emergency Plan identified the family for HIV/AIDS care and support. The family has benefited tremendously from the assistance of a home-based care worker and nurse supervisor, who began working with the family in 2004. With Emergency Plan support, the home-based care worker from World Vision has reached out to the family to ensure that they have access to antiretroviral treatment and other clinical services through a day hospital. The family was able to start antiretroviral treatment, as well as receive adequate food, nutritional, psychosocial and treatment adherence support.
To support the family, Isablita and Evancia sell onions and tomatoes at the local market in Quelimane – a task that would have never been possible without antiretroviral drugs. The family’s hope for a bright future has been reborn. |
