India is today home to 2.2 lakh children infected by HIV/AIDS according to the latest statistics published by NACO (National AIDS Control Organization). Majority of them belong to the southern region of India, especially Andhra Pradesh. Normally children who have lost one or both parents need a lot of support, mentally as well as financially. Most orphaned children are supported by relatives who are often unemployed or living on pension.

But children living with HIV and AIDS will have special needs that are different from those of adults. If they are young they will not understand the disease and the steps they need to take to stay healthy. They undergo mental trauma due to the discrimination they face from the society due to the disease they inherit which is by no means fault of theirs. Most children with HIV/ AIDS were infected because of mother child transmission and their parents often become ill or die when the children are still very young.

Unfortunately due to the prevailing stigma and discrimination towards the disease many children are left to fend for themselves even by their immediate relatives and in some extreme cases by their own parents from whom they got this disease. Without proper medical care, nourishment and counselling the survival rate of the infected children reduces drastically.