This project aims to effort for the health development and well-being of Children Living with HIV/AIDS (CLHAs) in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharastra. In India many places with a high prevalence of HIV, efforts to provide care and support for AIDS orphans have been underway for many years. Although existing initiatives are encouraging, many of these are small scale and are struggling with the increasing number of children that require care mainly in high-prevalence states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharastra. In order to develop a comprehensive and sustainable response to children, DESIRE Society has been initiated a project which is committed to provide services of treatment, nutrition, shelter and education with moral support to Children Living with HIV/AIDS (CLHA). Now the organization is able to support up to 500 children in these three states. Besides, organization is also supporting the children affected by HIV/AIDS (children who are not infected with the virus and whose parents died of AIDS) in India .

Activities of the Project:

• Shelter , love and protection
• Health care
• Education and Moral Support
• Nutritional care

Project Sustainability: By offering these services will enable the stigma free environment among the children suffering with HIV/AIDS. Therefore, this will reduce the stigma associated with the HIV disease in our society. While treating their opportunistic infections and offering them proper nutrition will also enable them to attend the school regularly and psycho-support (counseling) can impact on children to adopt good behaviour. In addition this support will strengthen the positive thinking to lead happy life among CLHAs.

Monitoring & Evolution: Once a child is admitted at centre will be put on medical observation by health care team. Drug adherence has more priority in this program, because unless a patient takes ART regularly he can not find result of it. Each child will be maintained a separate file with precise code. Affected and neglected children will also be given preference under this project. A five member review committee will evaluate the program chronologically and advise the team to work more effectively.

Since pediatric formulations were not available, majority of the children living with HIV/AIDS were not able to get proper nutrition and treatment. Another big concern for those working in the field of HIV/AIDS is to reach out to the large number of children who have not been tested and who could be potential carriers of the virus. Identifying children who are vulnerable to HIV infection and verifying their Status would therefore be a priority.

Core activities of the project:

• Diagnosis of HIV infection in infants and children
• Enumeration of CD4 Cells in children found to be HIV Positive
• ART initiation for children needed treatment
• Diagnosis and management of Opportunistic Infections
• Psycho-social Support
• Nutritional Support
• Travel and logistical Support

DESIRE Society intends to launch this program in Maharastra soon.

Young people, who are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, offer the greatest hope to defeat the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This program focus is on high-risk behavior groups and the efforts on covering the young people, especially those who are out of school, has been less prioritized.

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh classified as highly vulnerable states and have witnessed an increase in HIV prevalence in recent years among the high-risk behavior groups. Thus the window of opportunity for HIV prevention is fast narrowing down and it is time to scale up interventions especially for young people.

DESIRE Society, as pilot initiative, has planned for roll out the program through community participation of urban slums in cities of Bangalore and Hyderabad . Through this project DESIRE intends to contribute to the efforts to reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among young people and children and to reduce the impact of AIDS on children, adolescents and families affected by HIV/AIDS.

Core activities of the Project:

• Formation of Youth Clubs
• STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) Treatment
• Training Peer Educators
• Organizing HIV/AIDS Awareness Camps
• Voluntary counseling and Testing