DHAKA, March 3 (AFP) - When he was a baby, Khokon was found abandoned by a couple and taken in. When he was 11, they put him on a ferry to Dhaka and told him to earn his own bread.
"I don't have any family identity. I don't know what affection or love is," Khokon, now 15, said with a laugh. "But I survive, I've learned to survive."
For Dhaka's massive population of street children, life on their own means they are not only deprived of a family's love and support, but are at risk to diseases that can kill them or cause permanent damage if not treated.
Khokon is one example.
"I had scabbies all over my body and they bled due to scratching, but I didn't have any money to go to a doctor," he said.
"I treated it with some cream I bought from a vendor, but it didn't go away."
But the rashes that once covered him are now gone, after he found help at Street Children Partners-Bangladesh.
The French non-governmental organisation has been trying to address both sides of the trauma for these children, providing them psychological comfort and also treatment for the diseases they face.
The boys and girls are separated in each session, where a doctor shows them pictures of different illnesses they could be suffering.
"Do you know this disease?" he asks. "Does anyone want to be treated?"
The children are often shy about admitting they are sick. But as they gain trust in the doctor, some of them whisper to him that they know too well about the diseases in the pictures.
Marjorie Unal, who heads Street Children Partners-Bangladesh, said the NGO recently organised a week to study street children's health -- and was shocked at what it found.
"Doctors found out that they not only had different types of skin disease, but also some sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), she said.
"It's amazing how children who are yet to reach their teens were infected with STDs."
While UN estimates put the number of HIV-positive Bangladeshis at a relatively minor 13,000, doctors worry that street children are at risk to an array of diseases because of their sexual behaviour.
"The problem with street children is they are exposed to diverse groups of people and thus get infected with different kinds of diseases, some of which can be fatal if untreated," said Mustafa Abdur Rahim, a doctor who works with such children.
Hepatitis and syphillis have already killed street children who did not seek treatment in time, he said.
"These children commonly suffer from scabbies, hepatitis and diarrhoea and have worms," said Harun-ur-Rashid, who works with another NGO, Chinnomool Shishu Kishore Sangstha.
Bangladesh has seen a dramatic increase in the number of street children. >From 2.5 million in 1974, some 6.9 million children between ages five and 14 lived on the street in 2000, according to the International Labour Organisation.
A large part of the problem, experts say, is that street children are out of the usual health net, including immunisation drives.
Every year about 20,000 children die of measles and 8,000 babies die of tetanus, while another 1.8 million children are at risk to other diseases because they had not taken shots, said an official at the government's primary health care directorate.
NGOs hope they can curb the disease afflicting street children by making them aware of the risks in the lifestyles they have been sucked into.
"If they know how they can stay away from these diseases, it could help a lot," said Unal.
030303
AF030303
©AFP 2003. All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission. obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP photos or materials. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP stories, photos or graphics. - http://www.afp.com/
AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2003. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1990, 2003 - AEGiS. AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content.
