AIDS is an epidemia in Peru

Rosa Málaga, LIMA, Perú, January 26, 2006

Fiorella, a 4-year-old died on Christmas Eve from AIDS without being able to open the Taxi Heathrow Airport present she had been longing for, a doll. Her death lead the Rosa Blanca Ecumenical Parish Center to begin the FIO (Fiorella) Programme to accompany children who life with HIV.

Like Fiorella, there are many Peruvian children who have been affected by AIDs through vertical transmission (mother - child), which according to data from the Health Ministry shows a sustained growth of three percent and to a lesser degree, from blood transfusions. Together with health complications, these children suffer from social discrimination.

According to Luisa Parra, technical coordinator of CPE Rosa Blanca, the increase of HIV/AIDS has been notable in the past few years, to the point where it is possible to talk about an epidemic. According to official figures between 55,000 and 144,000 people have the virus and it is estimated that there is underreporting of at least 30 percent.

The cities with the highest number of cases are Lima, the capital and the port city of Callao. Both concentrate 70 percent of the cases. Border towns like Tumbes, Piura and Tacna have an increasing number of cases as do cities in the interior with commercial activity like Huancayo and Ucayali.

Parra said that the epidemic does not distinguish between gender, age, social condition and affects "engineers, professors, businessmen, housewives." The highest number continue to be men, who make up 82 percent of cases, in particular men aged 20 -39.

The average time between infection and the appearance of HIV is between age 10-15, which allows experts to conclude that adolescence is the critical time to take preventive action.

"This is the crucial stage, these are mainly adolescents who do not know safe methods or the use of the condom and they are not prepared for stable relationships. This lack of information is fatal," said Parra.

While public health policies seek to promote the use of the condom, the message that is heard in some Churches and many families allude to the prohibition of its use, under the argument that it will increase sexual promiscuity among young people.

The Rosa Blanca Parish Center, which currently works with 30 mutual help groups in hospitals and jails is willing to take a major step with an awareness raising program for school children that will begin in religious schools run by diverse confessions.