Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - October 17, 2004
* Find out if there is a home-based care organisation in your area. They will give you support and advice on caring for HIV-positive or sick children. If there isn't one, talk to community members or health workers at your clinic or hospital. They will help you to set up a support group for the care of children.
* Take HIV-positive children to the clinic as soon as they get sick. Make sure they take their medicine for as long as the health worker says they must. Children under six years old can get free health care at any government clinic or hospital. You will need to take the child's birth certificate or a clinic card.
* HIV-positive children should exercise and play. They should also get plenty of rest
* HIV-positive children cannot infect other children they play with, share food with, hug or touch. They should go to school, and learn and play in the same way as other children.
* Prevent direct contact with your skin when you clean up body fluids like vomit or blood from children with HIV. Use rubber or plastic gloves. If you don't have gloves, put plastic bags or thick cloths on your hands. Sometimes you can get gloves from a clinic or home-based care organisations.
* It is important that small children know they shouldn't bite others. This is important for all babies, but it is more important for babies who have HIV. This protects them from dangerous sicknesses like polio, diphtheria, tetanus, mumps and measles.
* HIV-positive children must be immunised five times in their first year of life.
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