HIV-positive children kicked out of school in Shymkent

Two Shymkent children have been expelled from school because of their HIV-positive status, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Zhanneta Zhazykbayeva, head of Let’s protect children from AIDS Public Fund. “Two children were expelled from a private school in Shymkent because they are HIV-positive. The children’s status was revealed during a planned vaccination against tuberculosis. The children’s parents wrote letters of explicitly forbidding vaccination of their children. Paramedics passed the information about the HIV-positive status to the school’s management, violating the medical secrecy by doing so. After that the school's management gave the parents ten days notices insisting that the children could not continue studying in the school. This means that Kazakhstan legislation is not in force at Shymkent private schools. Private schools ignore Kazakhstan laws. At present children go to other Shymkent schools,” she said on October 4. Let’s protect children from AIDS Public Fund’s officials approached the local Akimat (city’s authorities) and Prosecutor’s General office with a request to investigate the case. There are 220 HIV-positive children in Shymkent at present. 15 teenagers and 60 children have the fourth stage of the disease. Other children are taking antiretroviral therapy.