During the 90s, most HIV+ children in the United States were not expected to survive more than a few years. If a child did survive beyond a short period, people considered it a “medical miracle.”
At one center today in the US, the average age of HIV-infected children is 13 and rising, according to a New York Times Magazine article published this summer, because of the new line of AIDS drugs like protease inhibitors and other developments in the treatment of the disease.
In India today, the HIV+ children who are provided with nothing but the first line anti-retro viral drugs (drugs that were used a decade ago in the US) are surviving and thriving beyond the expectations of their caregivers.
Deepti has lived in an AIDS orphanage since she was eight years old. She is on the verge of reaching her teen-years.