The Department of Social Welfare in the Eastern Region has secured a care order to facilitate support for the 7-year-old HIV KG boy neglected by family at Effiduase in the New Juaben Municipality.

Officials of the Department on Thursday took the patient to Hospital for medical examination for a Doctor to attest to the health condition of the victim as part of processes to fulfill the Care Order.

The decision by the Social Welfare comes after Starr News reports on the botched response of the care authorities over the boy’s plight.

The 80-year-old grandmother taking care of the boy told Starr News, her poor living condition makes it difficult for her to properly care for the child hence her excitement at the news.

The health condition of the HIV boy keeps deteriorating due to hunger and absence of proper home care though he has been put on anti-retroviral drugs by a Community Health Nurse, Dorothy Amaninbea, who discovered the troubling condition of the victim.

The Nurse who has since been providing support for the victim is now pursuing further education at Kumasi Nursing and Midwifery College affecting her continued support for the child.

The boy has significantly lost weight in the last two months. His ill health affected his participation in the end of term promotional exams. The Department of Social Welfare in the New Juaben Municipality promised to facilitate support for the boy by relocating him to a caregiver due to the poor home care and stigmatization in the community but the intended support lacked urgency though the 80-year-old grandmother of the boy has been enrolled in the LEAP Program for a GHC86 monthly support.

The Eastern regional branch of Ghana AIDS Commission also did not provide assistance to the boy but the Commission (GAC) in a subsequent statement denied having knowledge of the plight of the HIV boy but promised “to initiated investigation into the matter and shall furnish the public including the publishers of the news with the relevant details as necessary”.

Background

The 7-year-old boy has been neglected by his family at Koforidua-Effiduase in the Eastern region due to his HIV status. He contracted the deadly virus from his mother through child birth.

Information gathered by Starr News indicate that family members have shirked their responsibility of taking care of the 7-year-old and his two other siblings both 10 and 14 years who have all dropped out of school. The 80-year-old grandmother has since been taken care of the children.

The mother of the children who is an HIV patient, abandoned the children and disappeared from the family house six years ago and has since not returned. The family believes the mother is dead.

Meanwhile, the father of the three children has also disappeared.

Since family members realized the mother of the three children had HIV/AIDS, they have dumped and discriminated against the children.

Due to financial difficulties, the grandmother had been unable to send the young HIV/AIDS patient to the hospital to be put on anti-retroviral drugs. It took the intervention of a community health nurse, Dorothy Amaninbea, who got wind of the situation and took the children for HIV testing.

The results showed that the two elder siblings were HIV negative, however, the 7-year-old tested positive and since put on anti-retroviral drugs but in a poor living condition.

Stigmatization

Reports indicate that the 7-year-old is being stigmatized in the community and in his school following the announcement by his auntie in the school that he was HIV positive.

The auntie reportedly stormed the school to proclaim the health status of the KG boy.

Since then, the HIV status of the boy has gone viral in Schools and the community.