Secret suffering of Ceausescu’s babies: The plight of HIV-positive orphans in Romania

Doctors say it took the revolution to expose the coverup, but even then Romanian state authorities seemed reluctant to act. In 1990, Oliver Gillie visited a Bucharest hospital and was horrified by what he saw

Thousands of babies were killed in the largest outbreak of non-inherited Aids among children anywhere in the world (Alamy)

In December 1989, immediately after the fall of communism, the images of starving, naked and sick children found in overcrowded Romanian orphanages shocked the world. In the same month, Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena were executed by firing squad, just moments after a brief trial that found them guilty of genocide, subversion of state power, destruction of public property and theft.

Independent journalist Oliver Gillie travelled to Bucharest in January 1990 and was horrified by what he saw: hundreds of children chained to their cots, unlikely to survive the year, in what was the largest outbreak of non-inherited Aids among children anywhere in the world. The cause was thought to have been dirty needles used in immunisation, or blood transfusions.

For the next 10 years the story was never far from the minds of our readers and in 2000 several flew to Romania and began the process of adopting youngsters. Our Christmas charity appeal that year helped raise £20,000 for the orphans.