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The Young Faces of AIDS in Africa
February 20, 2008 4:17 PM
White House Producer Jon Garcia blogs:
For all of the billions of dollars the U.S. spends on fighting the spread of HIV & AIDS in Africa, the real impact of the disease doesn’t really hit you until you look directly into the faces of its youngest victims. Correspondent John Hendren and I did that while reporting on what is likely President Bush's last trip to Africa as President. As Bush spent his first day on the continent in Benin answering questions about the violence in Kenya, we spent our day in Tanzania -- at the HIV/AIDS ward at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute in Dar es Salaam.
For most of our visit we were guided around by the director of the institute and head of an NGO who focuses her energies on fighting AIDS. We met and interviewed patients, looked at treatment facilities and saw how the $18 billion the U.S. has spent on AIDS in the last five years is making a difference: more drugs, more treatment, more hope.
But at the very end of the visit, as we were preparing to leave, Hendren found himself surrounded by AIDS' littlest victims. Boys and girls -- no older than six or seven years old -- with gleaming smiles, haunting eyes and playful spirits tugged at him and laughed even as he continued to interview the doctors. One boy reached out and held Hendren's hands. The kids didn’t understand English, but they did understand our smiles. It was clear they don't get to see smiles all that often. The good news is that all these kids are alive. Five years ago, our guides tell us, most HIV/AIDS patients were simply sent home to die. Now, everyone gets treated. See some of the faces we aren't soon to forget attached to this post.
February 20, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (3)
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This is so upsetting but it is also calming to know that people in Africa have an AIDS fund. To know that children in Africa can have help when their parents die from AIDS is a beautiful thing to know.
Posted by: Kelsy | Feb 20, 2008 6:24:17 PM
young faces of aids in Africa?
Rhe parents do not have to die.
All the Medical Breakthroughs that save lives,the problem is,the doctors refuse
to consider the breakthroughs,they do not do their practice fully?
Truly beleive there are cures. The doctors will cure them,it is hust that they do not use it all? Or do they know it all? Can they only treat the better the person cares for him/herself?
Can they treat better when the person speaks up?
Sincerely.
Loretta
Posted by: Loretts Sue Phillips | Feb 24, 2008 12:42:22 AM
Thanks for blogging this story. There's indeed something that changes in you when you look into the eyes of a child with HIV/AIDS in person.
Posted by: Tina Mather | Feb 27, 2008 12:48:53 PM
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