Children and youth infected with HIV and their families have to cope with the side-effects of treatment, stigmatisation and social discrimination, as well as with loneliness, which may lead to discontinuing treatment by them. In Poland, there is a lack of appropriate support for families in such situation - government institutions offer mainly medical help, while projects implemented by NGOs are usually directed to adults.
The aim of the project was to counteract social exclusion of the families having children infected with HIV through supplementing the existing offer by advisory services and other forms of support for families of children living with HIV.
The project contributed to enhancement of the quality of life for 101 persons with HIV from all over Poland through direct support, online support, and activities of local self-help networks.
An online counselling service was created for children infected with HIV that gave counsel to 80 families, over 90 articles on medicine, psychology, law and social issues were made available, an Internet forum was launched. Three trainings were also conducted for 17 leaders who started activities of local self-help networks in 5 voivodeships, as well as two trainings for youth infected with HIV and their guardians that helped them to get to know each other, exchange experiences, talk about their fears, feelings of guilt, consequences of infection for communication in families and on relations with friends and partners.
Direct beneficiaries of the project were persons endangered by social exclusion - 80 families with children and youth infected with HIV (101 persons).