Study: caring for parents with AIDS takes toll on children

Children who take care of parents with HIV or AIDS are at greater risk of developing mental disorders, according to recent research.

Funded by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council, a study found that those caring for HIV-positive parents were much more likely to display symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Additionally, the study determined that over 25 percent of caregiving children worked more than three hours per day with their parents.

Approximately two in five children also missed school to give aid at home.

The study’s release coincided with World AIDS Day on December 1 as a way to increase awareness of the devastation that the disease can have on entire families.

In order to prevent the virus from causing full-blown AIDS, those who believe they have contracted HIV may consider seeking out sexually transmitted disease screening from an online testing service.

Worldwide, there are an estimated 33.4 million people infected with HIV, according to the United Nations and the World Health Organization.