NGO gives a fresh lease of life to AIDS patients

Hyderabad: True to the saying that "It's not the years in your life that count; it's the life in your years," an NGO named 'Desire Society' aims to give a new lease of life to the children suffering from HIV/AIDS.

Desire Society, set up in Miyapur in 2005, aims to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS and lessen the death cases among the people living with HIV in India. They also aim to improve the lives of children struggling with the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in India.

G Ravi Babu, founder of Desire Society, said, "The institutional care home has benefited over 350 children suffering from HIV/AIDS. It is a care home facility for children who are HIV positive and lost their parents due to HIV/AIDS."

The Hyderabad care is home to 80 children in the age-group of 5 to 20 years. With the help of different organizations, they are recruited for different jobs to help them live independently.

Story of Swathi

Swathi, 3, was suffering from the HIV virus, infected through her mother during her birth. She was a in a very critical condition. Her father died of HIV four years ago and her mother is on bed with HIV infection. She also appears very close to end of her life.

This family is very poor. They work as daily laborers in a food catering group. Swathi was just 3 kg weight when she was admitted to the care centre. She was not able to move from one place to another. She had to sit at a particular place due to her unsupported health condition.

Exactly after four weeks, things improved for Swathi who sports a smile these days. Now she is under well care and treatment of the medical staff of the NGO. She is able to get ARV (Antiretroviral) treatment which is only the medicine available to expand the lifetime of an HIV infected person.

Now she is playing with her fellow inmates, wishing others and able to have food from time to time. Swathi health is improving and she weights 12kg as against 3kg in a span of 3 months.