Societal Responsibility towards Adolescents Living with HIV

Adolescence describes the teenage years between 13 and 19 and can be considered the transitional stage from childhood to adulthood. Nevertheless, many adolescents do die prematurely due to accidents, suicide, violence, pregnancy related complications and other illnesses that are either preventable or treatable. Many more suffer chronic ill-health and disability. For World AIDS Day 2013, WHO launches new HIV recommendations to increase testing, counseling, treatment and care for adolescents group. The failure to support effective and acceptable HIV services for adolescents has resulted in a 50% increase in reported AIDS-related deaths in this group compared with the 30% decline seen in the general population from 2005 to 2012. Comparing the landscape with 10 years ago when HIV infected children faced inevitable death (dying before the age of 1 year), those born with HIV now have access to Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) or HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy).Therefore children are now surviving up to adolescence & beyond. These adolescents face lot of problems other than their peers, like scars on the skin with color changes, lypodistrophy & lypoatrophy, papule pruritic leason, being short stature, physically weaker and having delayed puberty. Living & observing the HIV complications & death of their parents and near ones, may lead to psychological complications. Because of the HIV related cognitive impairment naturally these children will have poor academic achievements which may lead to less chance of gaining economic independence. Keeping all this in mind society should be well equipped with multidisciplinary support to provide overall care for adolescents living with HIV, such as government sponsored social supports schemes, financial help, sex education, premarital counseling, providing nutritional food, self-help schemes and equal job opportunities etc.