In 2017, 236 children below 18 years tested positive for HIV in Tamil Nadu, registering a near 25% decline in two years. While the numbers remain a concern for the officials, they could not establish the source of the disease in 32 children, an increase of 10. In 2015, of the 311 children who tested positive for HIV/AIDS in the state, 289 contracted the infection from HIV-infected mothers during pregnancy, labour or breastfeeding. Officials couldn’t establish the source of the infection in 22 children. This has led officials to believe that more children are engaging in high risk sexual behaviour or are victims of abuse.

Two years later, the number of parent-to-child transmission dipped along with the number of new cases detected among children, but the number of unaccounted cases touched 32, show data furnished by Tamil Nadu State Aids Control Society (TANSACS) in response to an RTI application by Times of India. Officials and doctors suspect the mode of transmission of the infection among these children could be sexual as the increase is verified by an uptick in the number of children referred to government-run clinics for sexually transmitted infections. The number went up from 6.234 in 2015 to 8,871 last year, as reported by Times of India.

Recognising the growing prevalence of STIs among children, TANSACS project director K Senthil Raj said he is in talks with the school education secretary to dedicate more space to sex education in the soon-to-be introduced revamped textbooks. He said staff at the integrated counselling and testing centres (ICTC) for HIV usually maintain a record of children with the infection, including those who haven’t got it from infected mothers. “They usually don’t probe. But if they do find the reason during the counselling, they maintain it in their notebooks,” he said.

HIV specialist Dr. S Sundar observed that the state should expand its HIV/AIDS prevention programme to youngsters who aren’t part of the traditional ‘high-risk’ group. “All our programmes are targeted at the high-risk population like female sex workers, transgenders, men who have sex with men and truck drivers. But ask a counsellor at an ICTC who they see the most – it is usually people who are not part of this group,” he said. “Children are engaging in sexual activity below the legal age of consent. It is a fact. They could be in a situation where nobody will even ask for consent,” added Dr. Sundar.

P Manorama, former chairperson of Child Welfare Committee, Chennai, who runs an organisation that works with children with HIV said that whatever the source, once diagnosed, these children are forced to battle the stigma associated with the infection or live in the fear that someone may find out they are positive. She affirms that she receives at least one child trafficking victim a year who tests positive for HIV due to sexual exploitation. “But they remain mere names in the state’s medical records. Officials don’t investigate further,” said Manorama, adding that TANSACS should coordinate with other departments to tackle these cases.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 23, 2018 09:36 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).