Manuscript Title:

Impact of Covid 19 Pandemic on the Lives of Children Affected by HIV

Author:

Dr. Saurabh Anand, Apoorva Patel, Anwesha Ghosh

DOI Number:

DOI:10.17605/OSF.IO/ZUR2T

Published : 2021-04-10

About the author(s)

1. Dr. Saurabh Anand - Assistant Professor (Sociology)& HOD (Social Sciences)
2. Apoorva Patel - Assistant Professor (Social Work)
3. Anwesha Ghosh - Research Scholar, Central University of Punjab.

Full Text : PDF

Abstract

COVID 19 has affected everyone’s lives today. It has led to a huge loss of life globally and posed a serious challenge to public health. Also, due to the pandemic, there is economic and social disruption countrywide. It will not be just to term this pandemic as a health crisis only, rather we can say that it is a human, economic, and social crisis. The pandemic has affected all sections of the population and particularly it has been detrimental to the vulnerable groups. Among this vulnerable group, children occupy quite a pivotal place in society as they are considered to be the key element in determining what the societal outcome would be because children are considered to be the future of any society. It can be rightly said that a society that invests in protecting the rights of the children, in turn, invests in its future. Generally, children are considered to be at low risk during COVID-19 but the scenario changes completely when we take into consideration a child who is living with HIV/AIDS. Children living with HIV/AIDS has a very weak immune system and therefore the chances of contracting COVID-19 infection are on the higher side for them which may later prove to be fatal. The lives of these children affected by HIV during the pandemic have changed in several ways. They are facing a number of challenges during the COVID-19 phase ranging from mental health issues due to isolation, access to their life-saving treatments, lack of educational facilities owing to the closure of schools, etc. The current paper intends to identify the challenges faced by children living with HIV during COVID-19 and to study the effect of COVID-19 on the lives of the children already affected by chronic disease like HIV.


Keywords

Covid-19, Pandemic, Vulnerable group, Children, Health, HIV