Keren Dunaway was 5 years old when her parents explained using pictures the HIV Virus. Ironically, this deadly virus is in her body.
Now in her age of 12, Keren exists as the most famoust HIV AIDS Activist in Latin America. She is well-known as a very open-minded person telling friends and colleagues without being afraid of rejections. She is also an editor of a Children Magazine on this virus.
Sunday Evening, 3 August 2008 she was sitting in one platform with The President of Mexico and the General Secretary of United Nations Ban Ki Moon to open AIDS International Conference.
She smiled showing her strong personality and sat down on her chair before taking the microphone starting her voice on the fact about the virus which has been with her since she was born.
“It’s like a small ball having small dots in my body, they swim in it,” she said to the newsmen in an interview time re-expressing her parent’s way of explaining on the virus.
Her open-mind about her HIV Status comes up after the virus victims reach the young people at the age of 15 – 24 years old, which is 45% of the whole HIV-AIDS persons in the world as stated on the AIDS Report in UN 2008.
In Latin America, 55,000 from almost 2 million HIV-AIDS people were at the age of below 15 years old, most of them were infected from their mother. Only 36%from pregnant woman in this area were taking their medical treatment for curative action. Nowadays, about 60% of mature people having HIV-AIDS were taking anti-retroviral medicine in Latin America.
“There are so many new-born baby with HIV-AIDS living and grow till adults, this is a good challenge,” said Nils Katsberg, the Director of UNICEF for Latin America and Caribea.
(bp/ap/ton-5|8|08)
