Emotional and behavioral disturbances in school going HIV positive children attending HIV clinic

Abstract

HIV positive children who have low CD4 count, poor school attendance, and performance are at a higher risk of being detected with EBD. Screening with PPSC to identify EBD in HIV positive children attending HIV clinic in a hospital setting could help in early diagnosis and management.

Emotional and behavioral problems and associated factors among children and adolescents on highly active anti-retroviral therapy in public hospitals of West Gojjam zone, Amhara regional state of Ethiopia, 2018: a cross-sectional study

“…The odds of having emotional and behavioral problems among children and adolescents who had non-kin care givers was 4.64 times (AOR = 4.64, 95%CI: 1.20–17.90) higher as compared children and adolescents whose care givers are child’s own parents. This idea is consistent with previous studies of USA [39] , Thailand [40], India [27], South Nigeria [22] and Kenya) [41]. The possible explanation might be child’s own parents can provide a more protective and parenthood care than non-kin care givers, and children and adolescents can have good attachment with individuals whom they attached to earlier [18].…”

“…This might be due to the difference of screening tools used [10, 11]. But it was higher than a study conducted in USA (7.4%) [31], India (30%) [11, 27] and Portugal (26.7%) [32] . This variation might be explained due to the fact that there is a great difference in the socio-economical, health care delivery system and cultural context of the study subjects [7, 33].…”

“…The total score was calculated by adding together the scores for each of the 35 questions and had a range scores from 0 to 70. A cut off point of 24 and above for age 5–6 years and 28 and higher for age > 6 years were taken to indicate EBPs [27]. The symptoms of PSCL was translated and modified in a culturally acceptable way.…”

Ending AIDS: The 90–90–90 strategy

“…Though this holds true for adults, awareness about HIV status tends to be low among children. An interesting study undertaken by Joshi et al 7 in this issue among 258 HIV-infected children between 6 and 16 years of age reported that about 38% of children living with HIV infection were aware of their HIV status. About 11.2% of them had emotional and behavioural disturbances more so among those who were orphans.…”

Effects of HIV on children and youth’s educational attainment

“…However, HIV-positive individuals who are on early treatment, have a lower risk of workplace absence (French, Brink & Bärnighausen, 2018). Similarly, children who are not on ART are less likely to attend school and experience behavioral problems at school (Joshi et al, 2017). Currently, it is not clear whether HIV exacerbates inter-and intragender gaps in human capital investment.…”