1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,000
You are watching UNICEF television.

2
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:09,000
For these children, HIV has brought death, discrimination and separation.

3
00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,000
This is the one place where it brings them together.

4
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:22,000
It is a special home for children affected by HIV and AIDS in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

5
00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,000
Most of the 14 boys and girls here have lost one or both parents.

6
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,000
Some have been abandoned.

7
00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,000
Many are themselves infected.

8
00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,000
Twelve-year-old Putri came here in December.

9
00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:42,000
Her poor health, too big a burden for her grandmother, who also had to support two teenage girls.

10
00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:49,000
Putri is too sick to go to school, but she tries to continue her studies from this home.

11
00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,000
She says her dream in life is to get cured.

12
00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:58,000
I sometimes feel scared and anxious. I don't know why.

13
00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:03,000
Sometimes I feel sad. I miss my parents. I miss my family.

14
00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:08,000
At least a thousand children are known to be infected with HIV in Malaysia,

15
00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:14,000
and there are probably at least hundreds more who are HIV positive but may not have been tested.

16
00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:22,000
With women accounting for a larger proportion of new HIV cases, it is feared that number will grow.

17
00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:27,000
Already there has been a six-fold increase in the rate of new infections by mothers

18
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:31,000
transmitting the virus to their babies since 1991.

19
00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:35,000
It's an upward spiral that need not continue.

20
00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,000
Malaysia has stepped up efforts to prevent infection from mother to child.

21
00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:43,000
Pregnant women who visit government clinics are tested for HIV

22
00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:50,000
and those found positive are given free counseling and antiretroviral drugs to keep the virus at bay.

23
00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:57,000
Their newborn babies are also put on drug treatment and given regular tests for HIV.

24
00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:03,000
Siti is hopeful the program has spared her children from the scourge of HIV.

25
00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:08,000
Siti was infected with HIV by her husband, who has since died.

26
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:16,000
She only learned she had the virus once she was pregnant with her fourth child, Farid, who is now five years old.

27
00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:22,000
When I realized I was HIV positive and pregnant, I lost all sense of hope.

28
00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,000
I was afraid I was going to pass this virus to my baby,

29
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:29,000
but the medical team explained that they were going to give me medicine to save my baby.

30
00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,000
It was only after this I started feeling happier with life,

31
00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:38,000
when I was told there was hope to prevent my unborn baby from getting HIV.

32
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,000
With treatment, Farid was born free of the virus.

33
00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,000
Four years later, Siti again became pregnant with her youngest daughter, Min.

34
00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:52,000
Now nine months old, Min has also tested negative for HIV,

35
00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:57,000
but it won't be until she is two years old that doctors can be certain she is not infected.

36
00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:05,000
Making sure more women have access to treatment brings hope that fewer children will have to grow up in refuges like this,

37
00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:10,000
sparing them a childhood burdened by sickness and stigma.

38
00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:16,000
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this is Steve Nettleton reporting for UNICEF Television.

39
00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,000
Unite for Children.