Vespa helped a child with HIV get care

Having a clinical officer at a health post is not only rare in the Lake Victoria area of Kenya, but also a blessing to those in town. Recently, Vespa (on the right) saw a young child in our Rota clinic who was not gaining weight as well as she thought they should be (not the child in this picture). A rapid HIV test done by our laboratory technician showed that they were positive for the virus. In this area where up to 50% of people are HIV+ this is not surprising and is often taken as a fact of life.

Children, however, may also have opportunistic infections and other health issues, so Vespa had our lab look for anemia and other infections. The child was started on HIV medications and is currently back home. Likely if Vespa was not available close to home the child would have been watched and cared for by the parents until they died. It is still very taboo to be HIV+ in rural Kenya and often parents do not want to know. Through education by Vespa and the HIV counselors at the dispensary, things are changing and we currently care for 40-50 HIV+ patients.

Only time will tell if things will go well for this child as his road is long and not all stories have happy endings. Your generous contributions to keep Vespa in the community for a month are vital, however, in changing the knowledge, understanding and culture regarding this disease and giving children a better chance at being diagnosed early and getting help sooner.