Living environment and schooling of children with HIV-infected parents in southwest China

Abstract

A cross-sectional household survey was conducted in Longchuan County, China, to study the lives of children with HIV-infected parents. Registered HIV-infected drug users and their households were approached and information about the living environment of children ≤15 years of age was collected. Of the 266 households interviewed, there were 213 children ≤15 years old. Forty percent of the children had lost at least one parent. Most of the children resided in a household with low economic status and a high dependency ratio. One-half of the children experienced discordant family relations, family anxiety and shame. Compared to orphans, non-orphans and their families were less likely to receive social support from the community. Orphans and older children were less likely to attend school and more likely to be truant if enrolled in school. Findings in the current study suggest that many children whose parents are infected with HIV or have died from HIV are living in stressful environments with minimal support from the community. Efforts should be taken to provide support and supervision to these children.

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Merck Sharp & Dohme (China) Ltd. And China-UK HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Programme. The authors want to thank other research team members from the China CDC National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention (Ke-an Wang, Rong Chu, Keming Rou), Dehong Dai and Jinpo Autonomous Prefecture CDC (Sufeng Huang), Longchuan County Anti-Epidemic Station (Lelong Dong, Taixian Yue, Hongmei Zhang, Runhua Ye, Sheng Huang, Haofeng Zhang, Zhonglin Zhao). The authors also want to thank all participants for taking part in the study and for providing their personal information.

Notes

1. The compulsory education law of the People's Republic of China, which has been effective since July 1, 1986, ensures the right of education for each child in China. Parents are required by the law to send their child who has reached age of six (in urban) or seven (in many rural areas) to school to receive compulsory education for a total of nine years (or 9 grades). The nine-year compulsory schooling typically includes six years of primary school education and three years of junior (middle) school education (China Education and Research Network, 2005). According to a report from China Ministry of Education, in 2001, school attendance rate was 99.05% among children eligible to receive primary school education and 88.7% among children eligible to receive junior school education. The school drop-out rates were 0.27% at primary school and 3.12% at junior school (Ministry of Education, 2005).