The AIDS toll on children

Here are a few staggering facts that Ann M. Veneman, the United Nations Children’s Fund executive director, tossed out this week hoping to shake the world out of its complacency:

• “Every minute of every day, a child dies because of AIDS.”
• “Every day, there are nearly 1,800 new HIV infections among children under 15.”
• “Today, an estimated 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS.”
• “Less than 10 percent of pregnant women are offered services to prevent transmission to their infants.”
• “Less than 10 percent of children who have lost parents or who have been made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS get needed support or assistance.”
• “Less than 5 percent of children in need of treatment for HIV/AIDS receive it.”

Slideshow: HIV positive orphans forming family bonds

The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan added that “youth make up half of all new HIV infections worldwide, with a young person contracting the disease every 15 seconds.”

Mr. Annan and Unicef’s Ms. Veneman provided these statistics as they announced a new campaign that focuses on giving children living with the HIV virus a greater chance for survival while also trying to slow the rate of infection in that age group.

“Twenty-five years into the pandemic, this very visible disease continues to have an invisible face … a missing face … a child’s face,” said Ms. Veneman. “They are missing parents … missing teachers … missing treatment and care … missing protection … missing many things … except for the devastating effects of this disease.”

A harsh reality that Lives in Focus contrasts here with photographs of HIV+ orphans who are receiving treatment and care…receiving protection… receiving an education… receiving the things that should be every child’s birthright.

The caretakers

I hate to admit this, but here goes: at the end of each interview session, I would surreptitiously pull out my hand sanitizer and slather on more than the recommended “thumbnail” size amount.

I also struggled to control my career-long habit of chewing on my cuticles when on deadline or under stress to avoid having any cuts on my fingers. And I consider myself educated about how the HIV virus is transmitted but I still was paranoid.

The health workers and people who take care of family members who are positive are under constant scrutiny by those around them.

Slideshow: The Caretakers

One doctor said that his parents wondered why he would treat these kinds of patients when he could easily be minting rupees in a private practice. And of course, they feared for his health. When we interviewed people in their one-room homes in the slums, they kept peeking out their door to make sure their neighbors weren’t eavesdropping. Mothers and fathers traveled vast distances with a sick son or daughter to be as far from their home towns where they might be recognized.

This series of photographs is about the caretakers, who must ignore the hostility and suspicions of these neighbors, friends and other family members fearful because they provide medical services, food, shelter or emotion support to those with AIDS or those who have tested positive for the HIV virus.

Back in the U.S.

Srinivas and I are heading back to the US at the moment (waiting to board our connection in London). We have collected over 15 hours of video and audio, and nearly 2000 photographs. Over the next month, we will continue to update our Voices blog with photos, audio and video. We hope to have the final flash presentation ready by the end of September.

Willing to face the glare

The women’s stories are strikingly similar: their husbands visiting commerical sex workers, became infected and passed on the virus to their unsuspecting wives.

Slideshow: Portraits of those willing to face the glare

The men often tell a story of denial: they don’t know how they became sick.

What the HIV+ men and women have in common is that they are afraid to reveal their status for fear of discrimination and rejection by their families.

Here are some portraits of men and women willing to face the glare–and speak up about their condition to help others. They are all part of a group called Netwok of HIV Positive People.

Opportunistic infections

click image for slideshow

After a week of struggling to get my computer fixed (Dell’s International Service Center in INDIA does NOT provide help to people in INDIA), I have posted some images from our first day in Hyderabad.

I will be adding some video this evening (India time).

The photographs depict the way, in India, Tuberculosis is the most lethal opportunistic infection preying on those weakened by AIDS.

Getting our bearings

After being stranded in Kuwait for a 6-hour delay, we landed safely in Mumbai by mid-morning on Saturday. The monsoons unleashed a torrential rain to greet us at the airport, flooding EVERYTHING.

There has been no time to feel jet lagged. For the first time ever, I (and Srinivas) managed to stay awake till midnight Mumbai time to place me firmly in this timezone. We stayed with a photo editor at the Times of India, who introduced us to several people working on HIV issues in some capacity. One person he told us about–who we have yet to meet–is a Fulbright scholar studying the impact of being HIV+ on the relationship between mothers and their children. We hope to meet her soon for an interview.

On Sunday morning, we left for Hyderabad where we have arranged to spend time at an HIV/AIDS clinic. We will be traveling with an organization to rural villages as where they are conducting some outreach programs. Back soon with some photos and audio.

The journey begins…

When we land in Bombay on June 23, we plan to stay with a friend of Srinivas’s (another photographer) who lives in a colony for journalists in Chembur (a section of Bombay). This trip is already shaping up to be so different than any previous trip to India for me when i would usually stay with relatives and attend weddings. I am looking forward to hearing Indian journalists’ perspective on the coverage of AIDS there and around the world.

Stereotypes

At the South Asian Journalists Association convention this past week, I had an opportunity to hear Ross Kauffman (2005 Oscar winner for “Born into Brothels“) and Roberto Romano (”Stolen Childhoods“) speak about the filming and editing process of their documentaries. I also heard Shahidul Alam, a leading Bangladeshi photojournalist, talk about his experience taking photographs of Muslims, and other South Asian people.

What struck me about the work of Kauffman and Alam work overall, is that they showed children in their own environment–doing what they do–and they let that do the talking about their conditions rather than any heavy-handed images of people suffering. Alam was especially sensitive about showing “Brown” people living their lives rather than showing them the way the Western media normally wants to see them: almost always in dramatic images of suffering.

Srinivas and I also hold that it is best to show the richness of people’s daily lives, the kind we see in the smallest interaction. The trick will be to balance that with the global implications that are winding their way into the issue…weaving it in so people can contrast the daily lives with the social and economic politicis in the background.

We met our fundraising goal

Thanks to the generosity of complete strangers, friends of friends, friends and family, we have met our fund raising goals.

Apart from the financial support, one has offered to lend us his professional grade video recording equipment; others have put us in contact with their sources on the ground.

We will shortly post a thank you note for all those who have provided support.