Well-being of children affected by HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Children affected by HIV or AIDS (CABA) are vulnerable to social consequences such as neglect, stigma, and exclusion, leading to poor child well-being. We assessed the well-being of CABA and the factors associated with it. Our sample included 288 CABA, aged 10–18 years, from four divisions of Bangladesh – Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, and Khulna. The mean age of the children was 12.93 (±2.36) years. Among the children, 58% were boys, 78% were from rural areas, and 48.6% were receiving some form of HIV-sensitive social protection services from different non-governmental organizations. Around 91% of the children were continuing their education, 93% were vaccinated according to the national immunization schedule, and 13% were infected with HIV. We found that child well-being was not significantly associated with HIV-sensitive social protection services (OR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.40–1.95), but with family wealth (OR: 5.23, 95% CI: 1.88–14.51). Therefore, we argue for HIV-sensitive social protection services that consider the economic well-being of the families of the CABA along with other well-being aspects.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV-sensitive social protection services
• child well-being
• HIV; AIDS

Abbreviations

AIDS, Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; CABA, Children affected or infected by HIV/AIDS; HIV, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; HSSP, HIV-sensitive social protection; NGO, Non-governmental organization; PLHIV, Person living with HIV/AIDS.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Ashar Alo Society, Mukto Akash Bangladesh, Hope Care Center and Confidential Approach to AIDS Prevention for helping us to access the CABA. We appreciate the help of the National AIDS/STD Program Bangladesh for attending the proposal presentation and providing valuable comments.

Iffat Nowrin Tuly, Sharmin Sultana Shimu, Shaida Khan, Sayema Akhtar, Noor Kutubul Alam Siddiquee, Muhammad Riaz Hossain, Shahanaj Shano, Mohammad Hossen Khan, Abdullah Zahid Osmani, Rokibul Islam, Taslima Aktar, Tahmina Afroz and Jhalok Ronjan Talukdar interviewed the participants.

Disclosure statement

Authors declare that they have no competing interest.

Author’s contributions

IM, TO & MZU conceptualized the research. JRT supervised data collection and analyzed the data under the guidance of IM. JRT wrote the first draft and updated it based on the feedback from IM. EH and NIH contributed to methodology and data collection. All authors read the final draft and approved it.

Author’s information

JRT is a PhD student at Health Research Methodology program, McMaster University, Canada. He is also a Senior Research Associate (on study leave) at BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (BRAC JPGSPH), BRAC University, Bangladesh. TO was the former chief of HIV in UNICEF Bangladesh Country Office and currently is the UNICEF Deputy Representative in Pakistan. EH was a Senior Lecturer at BRAC JPGSPH and currently is the Research utilization and GoB Relations Advisor, Multisectoral Nutrition Project (MSNP) at FHI 360 Dhaka, Bangladesh. NIA is a Senior Research Fellow at BRAC JPGSPH. MZU is a HIV/AIDS specialist in UNICEF Bangladesh Country Office. IM is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Health, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, Qassim University, Al Bukairiyah, Saudi Arabia. He was the PI of this project at BRAC JPGSPH, BRAC University, Bangladesh.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by UNICEF Bangladesh Country Office (contract no. 43167736)