Give a future for 950 Indian kids living with HIV

When Binakash was born in 2010 his mother was not tested for HIV, due to improved services this would not happen today. They were both diagnosed with HIV two years later when his mum was seriously sick. His father had run off and mother and child were moving from District to District looking for work or support. His mother was irregular on treatment and always denied that her son was infected.

Concerns were raised about Binakash’s health condition. He didn’t look well, but on the other hand it is rare to see a child live to 15 without treatment. Some ‘detective work’ across three districts followed, our team are uniquely able to do this. Yes, he was indeed HIV positive. It took three months to counsel the boy, now at the difficult age of 15 and his mum, to persuade them, he started treatment in May 2025. Thanks to persistent field outreach and counseling, Binakash’s life is now on a path of hope.

Now that there are fewer children with HIV and the positive people’s networks are geared up to work on their own, the eight staff are now on part time with the networks looking after the rest.

The project keeps records and focuses on treatment adherence, following up problem cases. As outlined in past reports we push for children with a high viral load to get upgraded treatment. For the moment we are putting our idea to buy the drugs on hold. To obtain updated government supplied drugs we need to show that the children are regular tablet takers – since if irregular on standard drugs they will almost certainly be irregular on upgraded drugs. This month we have been successful in obtaining these drugs for three additional children.

Thanking you for making this work possible. With very best wishes,

John Dalton