Children Affected by HIV and AIDS

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is having a devastating impact on the well-being of children, particularly in those countries with the highest HIV prevalence rates in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and parts of Asia. The virus affects children in multiple ways; they may lose one or both parents and other family members, or become infected with the disease.

Aside from the physical and psychosocial stress associated with the onset of the disease itself and the experience of loss of loved ones, children affected by HIV/AIDS may additionally be subjected to the burden of caring for others, stigma, discrimination, exploitation, abuse, financial hardships, and are less likely to attend school. The social and economic effects of the disease means that areas with high AIDS-related mortality are less able to provide traditional family and community care, protection and basic services for its children.

Children with HIV-positive parents are at a greater risk of being orphaned, abandoned, removed by social services, placed into foster or institutional care, becoming homeless, or left to head households on their own. Orphaned children infected with the virus often have more difficulty obtaining care. Families and communities have rallied to provide kinship care to the large majority of the children who have lost their parents, however families and communities are struggling to cope, physically and financially, with the numbers of children involved. Despite international recognition of the damaging effects of institutional care and its high costs, institutional care has proliferated, often supported by external groups wanting to help. Far too little has been done in such countries to systematically strengthen and support HIV/AIDS-affected families and families caring for orphans, or to develop family-and community-based care for children without adequate family care.

Children should be cared for by their immediate and extended families wherever possible, with support services put in place to avoid abandonment. Regulated kinship, foster care, and local adoption should be developed for children without close relatives. Young people and communities should be provided with information on HIV/AIDS to avoid infection. Adequate medical treatment is needed to enable infected parents to live longer and to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child.

The literature in this section includes background information on countries and projects tackling the crises, including statistics, policy papers, implementation projects, and care options for children orphaned or infected by HIV/AIDS.

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The Situation of Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children and Youth in the SADC Region (DRAFT)

Southern African Development Community (SADC), 13 Oct 2010

This Situation Analysis Report is one of a series of three documents: (1) Report on the Situation of Orphans and Vulnerable and Children and Youth in the SADC Region; (2) Conceptual Framework for Psychosocial Support for Orphans and Vulnerable Children and Youth in the SADC Region; and (3) Minimum Package of Services for Orphans and Vulnerable Children and Youth in the SADC Region. The Situation Analysis Report has informed the development of the PSS Framework and the Minimum Package of Services.

Who is the vulnerable child? Using survey data to identify children at risk in the era of HIV and AIDS

Priscilla Atwani Akwara, Behzad Noubary, Patricia Lim Ah Ken, Kiersten Johnson, Rachel Yates, William Winfrey, Upjeet Kaur Chandan, Doreen Mulenga , Jimmy Kolker and Chewe Luo - AIDS Care, 01 Sep 2010

In this study, data from 60 nationally representative household surveys (36 countries) were analyzed to establish if orphanhood and adult household illness consistently identified children with worse outcomes and also to identify other factors associated with adverse outcomes for children.

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The experiences and priorities of young people who care for their siblings in Tanzania and Uganda

Dr. Ruth Evans , Geography and Environmental Science, School of Human and Environmental Sciences, University of Reading , 13 Aug 2010

This report presents key findings from a small-scale pilot research project that explored the experiences and priorities of young people caring for their siblings in sibling-headed households affected by AIDS in Tanzania and Uganda.

Blame and Banishment: The Underground HIV Epidemic Affecting Children in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

UNICEF , 08 Jul 2010

An eye-opening analysis of the social, economic, political and family problems contributing to an overwhelming HIV epidemic that disproportionately affects young people, adolescents and children.

'We are managing our own lives ': Life transitions and care in sibling-headed households affected by AIDS in Tanzania and Uganda

Ruth Evans, Department of Geography, University of Reading, UK, 01 Jul 2010

Explores the ways that young people express their agency and negotiate complex lifecourse transitions according to gender, age and inter- and intra-generational norms in sibling-headed households affected by AIDS in East Africa.

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Family Centered Services for Children Affected by HIV and AIDS

Journal of the International AIDS Society , 24 Jun 2010

The special issue brings together the rationale for family-centred services for children affected by HIV and AIDS and some of the available evidence for the effectiveness of integrating treatment and care into the broader context of family-support schemes

Children and adolescents without parental care in Latin America: Contexts, causes and consequences of being deprived of the right to family and community

RELAF and SOS Children’s Villages International, 01 Jun 2010

This paper is based on The Latin American Report: The situation of children in Latin America without parental care or at risk of losing it. Contexts, causes and responses, which was prepared using reports from 13 countries in the region. The paper gives an overview of the state of one of the most fundamental rights - the right to parental care, a keystone for the right to live in a family and a community.

Establishing, reviewing and implementing National Plans of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Southern and East Africa

Save the Children UK, Southern and Eastern Africa Regional Office , 30 Apr 2010

This report focuses on the experiences of Save the Children in monitoring, implementing and reviewing NPAs in Angola, Ethiopia, South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Each of the country offices commissioned the documentation of case studies to identify promising practices and challenges around effective implementation of NPAs.

Off the Backs of Children: Forced Begging and Other Abuses against Talibés in Senegal

Human Rights Watch , 01 Apr 2010

Human Rights Watch report on the illicit practices of forced child begging and other abuses perpetrated against children in residential Quranic schools. Includes recommendations to government entities on action needed to reverse abuse and neglect of children in these situations.

Faith Based Orphan Care: Addressing Child-Oriented Goals and Child Rights in HIV/AIDS- Affected Communities

Madeleine A. Currie and S. Jody Heymann - Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1,, 01 Mar 2010

This article explores how established faith-based organizations that work with children affected by HIV/AIDS address the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Millennium Development Goals in their service practices and what challenges they face.

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