Hope renewed for girl living with HIV

MAEC supports children affected by HIV and AIDS

At the age of seven, Marie started to become sick and began to lose weight. Living in a rural village, near Cayes Jacmel in south-east Haiti, there were no nearby medical facilities and her family had little financial support.

During a community visit, an advisor was informed of Marie’s situation and suggested her family send her to the provincial hospital for HIV testing – the result came back positive.

Suffering from tuberculosis and diarrhea, her condition was worsening and she needed anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to enable the doctors to stabilise her.

Unfortunately the provincial hospital did not have access to the drugs, also for a poor family with seven children, the expense of traveling to a larger hospital further away, in the capital Port au Prince, would have simply cost too much.

The family decided to turn to Plan. Plan provided the funding to enable Marie to visit the hospital and receive access to the ARV treatment she required. As her mother was unable to travel due to pregnancy, her grandmother accompanied her. During her stay at the hospital, the grandmother had an accident. Without a guardian and emotional support, Marie would have had to return home and stop her treatment.

Fortunately the group Maison l’Arc-en-Ciel (MAEC), which translates as Rainbow House, stepped into help. Supported by Plan, they were the first organisation in Haiti to establish a residential programme for the care and treatment of children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Because of the stigma attached to HIV infection in Haiti, the group’s outreach activities had to be conducted discretely. ‘Delegate Mothers’ (Mères Déléguées) were recruited by the organisation and trained in primary and home-care.

With the MAEC’s support Marie is now able to receive home-care. The delegate mothers provide her with healthcare, social and psychological support, alongside food assistance and the fees to enable her to attend school.