Today, Benedetta is six years old and HIV positive. She enjoys all subjects in school and her favorite sport is football.

Anita and her husband hope to have another child and are working closely with their physician to get a negative child.

Anita narrated her story during the Child Camp for HIV positive from around the southern Africa country that was held in Bagamoyo and organized by The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF).

Speaking at the camp, EGPAF Executive Director Laurean Rugamba said that the main reason of the camp is to prove to the public that HIV positive children can live longer and be responsible when they get the right treatment and the right time without any problem.

According to him, the camp involves children from all over the country that are born HIV positive and have now grown up and already joined school.

Future dream

Joseph Kalinga, 14, from Shinyanga, who is HIV positive, said that he has been using the ARVs ever since he contracted the disease. He lives with his aunt because both parents have passed on.

“I still take the ARVS and goes to the hospital when am needed to go, my aunt takes me there and I follow all instructions. In future I plan to be a medical doctor,” Kalinga ended his statement as tears flows from his eyes.

According to medical experts at the camp, the child will have at least four doctor appointments per year with a specialist, who will monitor the CD4 counts and viral load in the blood to be sure the medication is working properly. The doctor will determine when the child’s immune system is strong enough to get “live” vaccines such as chickenpox and MMR.

The Foundation supports Tanzania’s Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) with technical support at national, regional and district levels. The Foundation works directly with individual districts and faith-based organizations to implement a broad range of HIV/AIDS services.

According to statistics available at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, an estimated 370,000 children were newly infected with HIV in 2009, representing a drop of 24% from five years earlier.

The statistics highlighted that more than 90% of the children living with HIV are infected through mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy, around the time of birth or through breastfeeding. Treatments have been shown to eliminate mother-to-child transmission in up to 99% of cases and today only 45% of pregnant HIV positive women have access to the medication.

“Last year, nearly half a million babies were born with HIV. By 2015, that number could be zero. A possibility we can make a reality,” Laurean said.