By the end of 2000, there were 860 HIV/AIDS

ROXANA HOUSE

By the end of 2000, there were 860 HIV/AIDS infected institutionalized children in Romania. The new Governmental Strategy on Child Protection underlines the importance of taking the children out of the institutions and stresses the need to ensure an environment as similar to the familial one as possible.

Thus, “Roxana House” was opened in 1996 with the financial support of Redda Barnen (Save the Children-Sweden) and in collaboration with Health Aid and Caritas Association – Catholic Solidarity. It is one of the six “houses” that exist in Bucharest. “Roxana House” is an alternative model of HIV positive children care, which stresses the emotional relation between adults and children and the importance of an environment similar to the familial one. This model was implemented in Romania starting with 1991 by Health Aid UK.

For almost five years, five HIV positive children abandoned in the hospital found a shelter in Roxana House. They benefited from special care and the emotional environment necessary for a normal development. The people working in Roxana House tried to create a familial environment, which should stimulate the children’s development and growth.

The main activities carried out by Save the Children for supporting the children living in Roxana House are:

• ensuring specific treatment conditions for each case;
• removing the negative effects of child institutionalization;
• arranging the entire space like that of a normal family; - integrating the children in the local community, playing on the same playgrounds as the other children living in the neighborhood;
• organizing trips and camps for 150 HIV/AIDS infected abandoned children;- training courses for the personnel working with these children;
• meetings with the teachers, representatives of the Ministry of Education and research, Ministry of Health and Family, journalists.

The personnel working with the HIV/AIDS infected children in the “houses“ participated in a training course organized with the support of Swedish specialists. The specialists involved in programs of preventing and combating HIV/AIDS infection working in Save the Children Branches from Dolj, Constanta, Caras-Severin, and Vaslui counties also participated in this training course.