UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS

January 1 2008

Two Children on Anti-Retroviral Drugs Die Tragically

I am very sad as I recount the tragic death of two children, aged 6 and 8, who lived in a township slum in the capital city of Swaziland, Mbabane. These two children were both HIV-positive and were living with their HIV-positive father after their mother died of AIDS in 2004. The whole family was on Anti-Retroviral Drugs (ARVs) and the father was responsible for monitoring the children’s intake of the drugs.

However in November 2007, the father, Sibusiso Ngubeni, passed away after a failed treatment of Tubercolosis (TB) which is a common HIV related infection. Since there are many deaths in Swaziland that are related to AIDS, most extended families are unable to absorb the high number of children who become orphaned. These two children, 6 year-old Siboniso and 8 year-old Jabulani were left to fend for themselves. No relatives took responsibility for them. Neighbours would sometime visit and give them food to eat. The children had one meal a day or none and yet they continued to take the ARVs.

Siboniso and Jabulani took their medication faithfully but when it ran out early December, they did not know where to go for more and they started taking their father’s prescription which led them, unknowingly, to overdose. A visiting neighbour found them in a bad state and rushed them to hospital where a doctor confirmed they had overdosed on ARVs. They fought for their lives in hospital until they succumbed to death, two days apart from each other.

What makes me especially sad is that the Social Welfare Department, which would be taking care of such cases, has very little capacity. UNICEF ran a workshop to sensitize them on their roles and responsibilities but they desperately lack capacity and financial resources. This present state of affairs makes it impossible for the general public to know where to go and report similar cases of children.

UNICEF initiated a program of community child protectors called 'Shoulders to Cry On' specifically to monitor orphaned and vulnerable children but also prevent all forms of abuse against children - especially sexual violence. This programme is working successfully in rural communities where there are clearly defined leadership structures. However, there is a challenge in urban areas, especially in slums where the community keeps changing.

UNICEF has managed to mobilize a few 'Shoulders to Cry On' on a voluntary basis in urban and peri-urban areas but most people demand payment to meet the cost of living.

We urgently need to scale up the number of 'Shoulders to Cry On' in towns and to support and strengthen the Social Welfare Department to help prevent such tragic deaths as that of Siboniso and Jabulani, children who were left all alone when their parents die.