A childcare centre in Whangarei, New Zealand has acted in an "appalling" manner for isolating a 4-year-old male toddler because of his mother's disclosure that he is HIV-positive, according to a spokesperson of the Aids Foundation.

The young boy's grandmother, Angela, appeared on TV3's Campbell Live Wednesday night to protest the childcare's decision against his grandson. She said the boy had contracted HIV from his mother, but he has been subjected to medication that has successfully reduced the virus to an undetectable amount in his blood. The boy has two siblings in primary school, and they are free from HIV.

Angela further said the boy's mother was told she should get her son home two days after she disclosed her son's condition to the childcare administration.

"My daughter disclosed his HIV status [and] on picking him up that afternoon was told there would be a meeting ... [Two days later, the preschool told her], 'Take your son home, we don't want him here'," Angela said in Campbell Live.

Aids Foundation has expressed its support for the boy's family and said the childcare did not particularly act on lack of information or Aids awareness.

"[The preschool has] been very well informed but the sad fact is, the management team don't want to know that there is no risk whatsoever to the other children. They'd prefer to persecute this child and create hysteria in the community... It's absolutely appalling," said Aids Foundation executive director Shaun Robinson.

HIV cannot be transmitted through children playing together, using the same toilets, touching or hugging each other, according to the Aids Foundation website.

Medication for HIV-positive individuals has been available in New Zealand since the mid-1990s. This medication, known as antiretroviral treatment (ARVs), lowers the amount of HIV in a person's system but it does not eliminate the virus entirely.