A home in Karnataka brings smiles to abandoned AIDS children

There is a home in Karnataka, which brings a smile to the faces of over fifty abandoned children suffering from AIDS.

By KG Vasuki

Dodda Gubbi (Karnataka), Sep 15 : There is a home in Karnataka, which brings a smile to the faces of over fifty abandoned children suffering from AIDS.

'Infant Jesus Home for Children', founded by a German philanthropist, Vinniguard, in Dodda Gubbi village, has taken up this cause.

"Most children are abandoned and their parents died of AIDS. I like to serve these children. These children are of different age group", said Veronica, caretaker of the home.

The abandoned children say they are happy with their lot.

"I feel happy, I don't have a biological mother. I like to stay with mother (Vinnigaurd, founder of the children's home). I have everybody," said Jaisilta, a child at the home.

According to the Karnataka AIDS Prevention Society, the HIV prevalence rate in the state is 1.56 percent, nearly three times the national rate. Most cases are from 12 high-risk districts of the state.

According to the health ministry, at least 21,000 children are infected every year through mother-to-child transmission of the virus.

Discrimination of AIDS victims in predominantly rural India is on the rise, which India's AIDS control authorities have been trying to fight. There have been instances of doctors denying treatment to AIDS victims or schools throwing out students with HIV positive virus.

India has the world's third highest HIV caseload, after South Africa and Nigeria, with around 2.5 million people living with the virus -- of whom around 70,000 are under 15 years old.

ANI