HIV children infected by vertical transmission are crossing from childhood to adolescence, however, we do not know how they are caring for themselves during those transitional age. The objective was to understand the (un)said about AIDS in their quotidian. After approval by the Research Ethics Committee of three hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, the interview was conducted with eleven boys/girls from 12-14 years old, who knew their diagnosis. The Heideggerian hermeneutics unveiled that the adolescent-being knows that the disease was acquired by his/her mother; he/she was said that his/her relatives are sick; he/she reminds when the diagnosis was disclosure, and its relation to prejudice. He/she projects him/her as a being-of-possibilities inside an existential movement. One concludes that the care for adolescent-being needs to integrate the biological, clinical, socio-cultural, ethical, political, and existential dimensions.
Adolescent health; Child health; Pediatric Nursing; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome