Psychosocial Needs of Children and Families Affected by HIV/AIDS
- Author:
Meena Cabral de Mello
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
HIV/AIDS;
children;
family;
psychosocial
- From:Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine
2012;12(Supplement 1):5-5
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Children and their families living in communities affected by HIV/AIDS face many varied problems. It is well established that multiple risks such as poverty, malnutrition, poor health and unstimulating home environments detrimentally affect cognitive motor and social-emotional development in young children. These disadvantages are known to set up a cycle of poor school performance and subsequent low income, high fertility and poor care environments for their children in turn. Furthermore, evidence suggests that interventions are at hand to modify risks and ameliorate the impact.
Young children face HIV/AIDS related threats in a number of facets of their wellbeing as their caregivers are lost, their security is threatened, their livelihoods are overshadowed and they, themselves are exposed to illness and infection. The children in an HIV/AIDS affected environment are subjected to material and emotional deprivation, overwhelming grief, multiple bereavement, social upheaval, stigma and discrimination and, at times, forms of social exclusion. Much of this is couched in a backdrop of poverty and stretched resources. The best predictor of outcome for children suffering from parental loss is the quality of subsequent care.
Family needs: Community and programme responses are required to incorporate these needs, to strengthen caregivers and households‟ capacity to respond and ensure the wellbeing of all children. These need to be contained in an enabling series of national policies which may need to earmark reserves, mobilize new reserves or integrate programmes at the highest level. The very young child is best nurtured and protected in the folds of the family and to date such family provision has been the mainstay of the response to children and HIV/AIDS. There is convincing evidence that early child development programmes can be effective.
Quality child development: Emotional development, psychological development and physical development overlap. What is important for young children is unconditional love, parenting with permanence, pathways to learning and quality environment. Children live in a variety of families, nuclear, reconstituted, extended, foster/adoption situations and changeable environments. The quality of care is seen as a key determinant of adaptive outcome.
Strengthening at the family level is good for children wellbeing. Many individual based programmes are generated in response to HIV, specifically in relation to prevention, care and treatment. However, for young children, a response at the family level is needed to protect, support, enable, and promote psychological wellbeing of young children as they develop. Protective environments and responses that support and enrich such environments not only promote resilience and coping adaptation in children as they grow – they also act as an investment for adaptive children who grow into adulthood. The absence of responsive and sensitive care has been associated with developmental problems, emotional difficulties, childhood malnutrition and failure to thrive. The presence of sensitive care with responsive and sustained input is associated with healthy cognitive and social development. These provisions are best provided or enhanced within a family setting.
