Blame & Banishment - Médecins du Monde

Blame and Banishment: The underground HIV epidemic affecting children in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
HIV-infected pregnant women and mothers, and the stigmatizing and discriminatory
treatment of drug-using women further increase the likelihood of abandonment. 19
Figure 2. Child abandonment among IDU HIV-positive women,
St Petersburg, Russian Federation, 2005–2007
30
25
# of abandoned children
20
15
10
5
0
2005
Source: Kissin et al., Abstracts, Second Eastern Europe and Central Asia AIDS Conference,
Moscow, 2008
2006
2007
In Moldova, mothers who leave their children said they had been influenced by
shame and negative attitudes towards single mothers and disabled children. 15
In Georgia, almost half of mothers at risk of relinquishing their newborn
reported a feeling of helplessness and lack of family support. Many were afraid
of domestic violence or rejection and felt lonely and inadequate. 20
Maternity hospitals are the first point of infant abandonment. However, few hospitals in
the region provide health worker training on how to identify and counsel pregnant women
or new mothers at risk of infant relinquishment. But with growing recognition that the postnatal
phase is a vital period of attachment and infant development, an increasing number of
hospital-based initiatives to support and encourage pregnant women and new mothers to
keep their babies are showing results. 15
Throughout the region, important reforms have been taking place in child-care systems.
Countries of the region, including Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, the
Russian Federation and Ukraine, have started to introduce reforms in the child-care and
social protection systems. Although most countries are still struggling with high rates of
13