14 years old girl

In Kanye District, one of our Community Health Workers went on her field of operation doing door to door teaching about HIV prevention and gender based violence. She came across a certain house hold where there was a mother with 3 children and during the discussion the mother agreed to be offered an HIV test especially to the children since she knew her status. The first children tested negative. She asked us to come in the evening when all the children are home. She mentioned that it will be of good help since the elder daughter who is 14 years old she was losing weight and also her academic results were going down, she insisted that we also do HIV test since she was born negative.
The mother mentioned that the children had social issues because she was always emotional during the discussions. On the 24th February we revisited the house and met with the daughter and were able to discuss with her issues of abuse and HIV prevention but she was not free to respond. She only responded asked if she was willing to be tested and she agreed. The mother signed the consent form. The counsellor waited for the result and it came out positive.

She was referred for CD4 count which came out at 83 (very low). She was enrolled on medication. Since the mother was not working and they did not have food supplies in the house, so the girl was referred for the government food basket by the doctor, who attended her at the facility and the children are now assisted through Department of Social and Community Development. The S&CD program officer has taken the issue to investigate more about what actually happened to the child.

The child at school has been appreciated by the guidance teacher, who also thanked the project for assisting the family. This will help the girl to recover. The girl has gained weight and now she is able to play with others at school like other children. She was also referred to Baylor’s Children clinic paediatric program locally.