Panama Orphanage Embraces Children With HIV

ARRAIJAN, Panama —  The San Jose de Malambo Home had been sheltering poor orphans for more than a century when a new form of suffering appeared five years ago: a girl orphaned by AIDS and HIV-positive herself.

“The arrival of this girl of 2 1/2 years meant a lot of us,” said Sister Lourdes, who administers the Roman Catholic orphanage.

In 1998, the Malambo home built a house in this town 25 miles west of Panama City especially to shelter children infected with the AIDS virus.

“We thought that children would be born in a state of abandonment and they were going to need our help,” Sister Lourdes said.

Now eight girls and four boys with HIV -- the youngest only a few months old -- are among the more than 156 children cared for at the home.

The Pan American Health Organization estimates that more than 25,000 adults and 800 children are infected with HIV in Panama, a country of 2.9 million people. It predicts that those numbers will double by 2010.

Sister Lourdes says caring for the youngsters is not easy.

Drugs to control their viral infections cost between $1,000 and $1,200 a month, making it tough to take in more children with HIV.

The orphanage has received some help from a children’s hospital in Panama City as well as an association of diplomats.