India's Health Minister Embraces Children With HIV, Saying Nation Must Learn About Virus

India's health minister has publicly embraced a pair of ostracized HIV-infected siblings, saying the nation must learn that HIV is not spread through casual contact. Health Minister Sushma Swaraj spent time Sunday with 8-year-old Bency Chandy and her brother Benson, 6, in Kaithakuzi, a village in the southern state of Kerala, reported local newspapers.

The siblings were turned away from four schools last year after word spread about their HIV status, and parents and teachers banded together to demand they be ousted. The Kerala state government eventually set up a one-teacher school just for the children.

According to Swaraj, India -- where sex remains a serious taboo and HIV/AIDS is seldom discussed openly -- has much to learn about the disease. "Society should be made aware that touching and hugging AIDS children would not cause the spread of the disease," she said.

Swaraj also announced that a government-run condom company, Hindustan Latex Limited, will assume the expenses of the children, who are cared for by their near-destitute retired grandparents. Acknowledging his gratitude for the government's gesture, Geevarghese Johny, the children's grandfather, said, "We have suffered the pain and agony of our children being treated like social outcasts."

Johny's daughter, Mary John, and son-in-law, C.K. Chandy, died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2000. The children later tested positive for HIV, which they apparently contracted from their mother.

Biju Panicker, who teaches the siblings, calls them bright students. "They grasp the subjects very well. The only thing they lack is the company of other school children. The fun and frolic of a student's life is not here," said Panicker.

Back to other news for September 30, 2003