A 19-month old orphan baby who had been treated for HIV/AIDS at a local hospital in Jember, East Java, died on Monday, tempointeraktif.com reported.
The head of the voluntary counseling and testing clinic at Jember’s Dr. Soebandi hospital, Dr. Justina Evy Tyaswati, said that the baby was declared HIV/AIDS positive a few months back and was treated at the hospital for some time.
The foster family then took the baby home as his health looked to be improving. But then, the family returned the baby to the hospital for treatment last week, but it was too late.
"His condition was so bad because the baby also suffered from malnutrition," Justina said..
Justina suspected that the baby got HIV/AIDS from the parents, both of whom had died when he was much younger. He was cared for by his aunt.
Jember has a relatively high rate of HIV/AIDS, ranking fifth in East Java after Surabaya, Malang, Banyuwangi, and Tulungagung. Jember has recorded 318 cases of HIV/AIDS since 2006, when official recording started.
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