AIDS
In Romania more
than 1,000 children have died of AIDS and another 2,300 have HIV. (SoRelle).
In the united states we have about 6,611 children that have been diagnosed
with AIDS in a country that is 10 times Larger. (SoRelle) While the
number of children with AIDS in Romania is alarming it is not entirely
surprising.
Ceausescu
perhaps ignorant or in denial about Aids believed that it was only a western
disease and wouldn’t come to Romania. Overcome with the idea of creating
a Romanian super-race Ceausescu saw the orphans as his future workforce.
It is expected that most of the orphans got the disease when given microtransfusions
(to improve their health) with infected needles. However, the numbers
of those infected are so high that it has been suggested that the children
may have been infected purposefully as some sort of government experiment.
(Cantwell)
It is also
possible to blame Romania’s medical system for the spread of AIDS.
During Ceausescu presidency nurses were only given a high school education
and were not knowledgeable enough to provide any form of medical care.
The care-workers in the AIDS pavilions are as detached as the care workers
in the orphanages. SoRelle describes Cristian age 6,
(Picture found at http://www.chron.com/content/interactive/special/romania/)
Abandoned since birth in an orphanage and considered "irrecoverable" because
of his disease, he bangs his
head against the sides of a crib, writhing to the strange rhythms of unheard
music. With only minimal attention
and love in the institution where he lives, he neither speaks nor walks
nor feeds himself. (SoRelle)
For the children in the AIDS pavilions one rarely finds
any hope for life. Treatment is rare due to costs, and even those
lucky enough to get treatment don’t last long. Sorin age 6 begged
for his treatments to continue, “Even though every breath was a struggle,
he told his physician, Dr. Sorin Petrea at Colentina Hospital, that he
wanted to live. He did not want treatment to stop.” (SoRelle).
The future
isn’t looking any better for the next generation. There is still
no sex or AIDS education in Romania. The cycle continues as AIDS
is spread from parent to child and from street children working as prostitutes.
Romania alone is home to more than one-half of Europe’s children with AIDS.
Even more alarming is that the current head of the health ministry, Iulian
Mincu, was the personal physician to Ceausescu and helped cause the AIDS
epidemic to begin with. Unless someone gets involved, hospitals get
cleaned up, and nurses get trained there will only be more AIDS cases in
the future
Works Cited
SoRelle, Ruth. “Born to be Forgotten.” Houston Chronicle 1996.
February 21, 2002.
http://www.chron.com/content/interactive/special/romania/
SoRelle, Ruth. “Salvation for Some.” Houston Chronicle – 1996. February
21, 2002.
http://www.chron.com/content/interactive/special/romania/story3.html
Cantwell, Alan. “Romanian Orphan AIDS Experiments.” 17 April 1997. February
21,
2002. http://www.tomdavisbooks.com/library/kidaids.html