Developmental issues are more likely in HIV-positive children than in those without the virus
HIV-positive children in SA are more likely to have developmental disabilities than those who are HIV-negative.Four-year-old to six-year-old HIV-positive children tested by University of KwaZulu-Natal doctors were nearly four times more likely to have experienced delays in sitting‚ standing‚ walking and speaking‚ and faced more than twice the odds of a hearing disability and cognitive delay.The children were tested through a widely used process called the Ten Question (TQ) screen‚ which found more than 59% of the HIV-positive children reported delays compared to 43% of HIV-negative children. The research‚ which involved the first use of the TQ screen in Zulu‚ was led by doctors from Columbia University in the US‚ and involved Shuaib Kauchali‚ Murray Craib‚ Jane Kvalsvig and Myra Taylor from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The findings have been reported in the journal PLOS One.The TQ screen measures caregivers’ perceptions of their child’s neurodevelopmental functioning. "[I...
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