Children living with HIV
On 6th February 2015 a group meeting was held at Chiang Dao Hospital. The meeting was for children in Chiang Dao district infected with HIV. Currently there are 29 children (age range 2 to 18) receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) at Chiang Dao hospital, The majority belonging to various hill tribe groups such as Lisu, Lahu, Chin Haw and Tai Yai.
Ten of these children, together with their guardians, attended the meeting. It was interesting to note that the younger children were from these minority groups (non-Thai) who have become infected from their mother at birth.
Thai mothers receive HIV screening when they become pregnant and start ART and their babies are not breast fed but receive formula milk instead. This has proved to be most successful in preventing mother-to-child infection.
The meeting focused on the importance of taking their medicine every day at specific times (twice a day). To facilitate this the children drew clocks depicting the times that they must take their medicine and were shown how to use the weekly pill strip and to return any unused medicine on their 2 or 3 monthly check-up at the hospital.
The children each received a gift and lunch before returning to their various villages.
