SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS BOY: NKOSI JOHNSON FALLS ILL

(6 Jan 2001) English/Nat
XFA
An 11-year-old boy who has become one of South Africa's most well-known AIDS activists has fallen seriously ill.
Nkosi Johnson, who was born infected with the HIV virus, lost consciousness after suffering convulsions a week
ago, his foster mother Gail Johnson told local media.
And although he has regained consciousness, he is not responding or speaking.
Nkosi collapsed while being bathed last weekend and was rushed to Johannesburg's Coronation Hospital,
But his foster mother said that the medical staff could do nothing more for her son.
She brought the boy home from the hospital on Friday so he would be more comfortable.
Nkosi became well-known in South Africa when he and his foster mother went public in their battle to force a public primary school to accept him despite his infection.
The boy was eventually allowed to go to school and the battle led to a proposal banning H-I-V testing of children as a prerequisite for admission to school.
Johnson had disclosed her foster son's HIV-status on application forms for admission to school.
Nkosi has been lauded for being open about his HIV-status in a country where people who are suspected of
carrying the virus often are shunned by their families and chased away from their communities.
About four point two (M) million South Africans - roughly 10 percent of the population - are estimated to be HIV positive.
In August, the boy delivered a speech as part of the opening ceremony for the 13th International AIDS
Conference, held in Durban.
In his speech, Johnson appealed to his country to stop stigmatising people carrying the HIV virus and those with full-blown AIDS.
He called on the government to provide HIV-positive pregnant women with anti-retroviral drugs to prevent transmission during childbirth.
The government has said it can't afford the drugs.
In the Western world, mother to child transmission has been cut to less than two percent by giving the mothers anti-retroviral drugs such as A-Z-T and Nevirapine.
In South Africa, mother-to-child transmission rates are between 30 to 40 percent.
Nkosi found support around the world, including from well-known Hollywood actor Danny Glover.
The boy and his foster mother last year traveled to the United States to raise awareness and money for Nkosi's
Haven, a shelter that provides care for HIV-positive mothers and their children.
The shelter opened in April and now houses 12 mothers and their children, but organisers plan to expand the project nationwide.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"This is about orphans and actually my mother and father died and I am actually an orphan and infected, but I am really a lucky little boy because I am living with a foster family but I am strong and healthy."
SUPER CAPTION: Nkosi Johnson, Aids suffer
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It's a place of nurturing, it's a place of embracing, a place where people have a shared interest. Those are the kind of things that I feel that I am a part of when I'm giving back. When I'm giving something back and AIDS is not the most romantic issue that we can talk about. We can talk about other issues in terms of..whatever, but it is a difficult problem to deal with."
SUPER CAPTION: Danny Glover, American Actor
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[@sweetmother1521]

It's so touching

[@rabeccalysias6947]

So touching

[@Ladynilow]

He still speaks better English that me

[@papajeffkaplan97]

Wtf