Living & Loving

HIV Children's Project in Thailand

Who we are

Living & Loving was set up in 2006 with the intention of providing support to at least 500 HIV-infected children in Thailand over the next 10 years. The country has an estimated 35,000 - 50,000 HIV-positive children with at least half of them orphaned.

Living & Loving is a charity aimed at responding to the needs of the children and their families in a pragmatic, fast and non-bureaucratic manner. It is motivated by the understanding that although there has been enormous progress in the availability and efficacy in the treatment of HIV infection, the psycho-social situation of the children affected by HIV remains very precarious. We believe that the needs of the children can be best assessed and cared for by the medical team in charge of them and the orphanages where they live.

Trustees

Sabine Kinloch, MD - scientific support, funding
Olivia Tulloch, MA - coordination with centres
Andrew Hill, PhD - planning, scientific support, funding

The trustees have a variety of relevant expertise such as long-term experience in the treatment of HIV infection in developed and developing countries, work in orphanages and business. One of the trustees also speaks Thai. They meet regularly to review the overall progress of the project and to monitor closely the financial performance against approved budgets. A yearly visit is organized to each of the sites by at least one of the trustees.

Financial statement

Funds raised by the charity are allocated to the specific projects we support in Thailand.

We aim to keep our costs to a minimum and rely on most of our staff working voluntarily. We have no administration costs in the UK, the doctors who we work with donate their time and our administrative needs in Thailand are kept very low.

The charity accounts are reviewed yearly by the Charity Commission.

Partners

Living & Loving has the privilege to collaborate with well-known Thai HIV paediatricians in two major academic centres in Thailand:

• Associate Professor Jintanat Ananworanich in Bangkok Read an interview with Dr. Ananworanich
• Associate Professor Pope Kosalaraksa in Khon Kaen
• Dr. Torsak Bunupuradah in Bangkok

They are involved in the long-term in the care of HIV-infected children and adults. Their work has been the subject of peer-reviewed publications in the context of extensive local and international collaborations with major medical institutions in Thailand, Europe and the US.