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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Building a User-Friendly and Government-Owned Case Management System for Highly Vulnerable Children: The Yekokeb Berhan Program Experience in Ethiopia

Kelley Bunkers & Suzanne Andrews - 4Children/CRS, 01 Jun 2017

This case study describes the coordinated care and case management system for highly vulnerable children and their caregivers implemented by the Yekokeb Berhan program in Ethiopia.

From Assessment to Graduation: Comprehensive Case Management for Vulnerable Children and Households – The Score Project in Uganda

Suzanne Andrews - 4Children/CRS, 01 Jun 2017

This case study describes the case management system developed by the Sustainable Comprehensive Responses for Vulnerable Children and their Families (SCORE) project in Uganda.

Identifying Households Needing Services for Orphans and Vulnerable Children – Guidelines for Adapting a Beneficiary Identification and Prioritization Tool from Uganda

MEASURE Evaluation, 01 May 2017

This document describes and provides guidelines for countries to implement the Household Vulnerability Prioritization Tool (HVPT), a tool developed in Uganda to identify and prioritize vulnerable households for enrollment in OVC programming.

Case study on child protection within OVC programs: Integrated programming for improved child outcomes in Namutumba, Uganda

Suzanne Andrews - Catholic Relief Services , 01 Mar 2017

This case study describes the process, methods and results of the approach promoted by World Education’s Bantwana Initiative under two USAID/PEPFAR-funded consortium projects in Uganda: SUNRISE-OVC and STAR-EC.

Guidelines on Best Practices for Adolescent- and Youth-Friendly HIV Services – An Examination of 13 Projects in PEPFAR-Supported Countries

Anastasia J. Gage, Mai Do, and Donald Grant - MEASURE Evaluation, 01 Mar 2017

This document examines 13 projects serving HIV services to adolescents in PEPFAR-supported countries and provides a set of guidelines on best practices for adolescent and youth-friendly HIV programs.

Best Practices for Adolescent- and Youth-Friendly HIV Services – A Compendium of Selected Projects in PEPFAR-Supported Countries

Anastasia J. Gage, Mai Do, and Donald Grant - Measure Evaluation, 01 Mar 2017

This compendium contains the findings from a review of 13 projects providing HIV services to adolescents in PEPFAR-supported countries.

Achievements and Implications of Care and Support Programme among Orphans and Vulnerable Children: A Systematic Evaluation of HAF II Project in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Ademola L. Adelekan et al. - Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science , 25 Feb 2017

This article presents the achievements of a care and support programme among orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Bayelsa State, Nigeria as well as the implications for future programming.

Country Care Review: Serbia

Better Care Network, 03 Feb 2017

The Committee's recommendations on the issues relevant to children's care are highlighted, as well as other care-related concluding observations, ratification dates, and links to the Universal Periodic Review and Hague Intercountry Adoption Country Profile.

Achievements and Implications of Care and Support Programme among Orphaned and Vulnerable Children: A Systematic Evaluation of HAF II Project in Kogi State, Nigeria

Ademola L. Adelekan et al - IOSR Journal of Nursing and Health Science (IOSR-JNHS), 01 Feb 2017

This paper presents achievements and implications of care and support programmes among OVC in Kogi State, Nigeria

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Estimating Numbers of Orphans and Vulnerable Children – A Test of Regression Modeling

Paul Brodish, Zulfiya Charyeva, Karen Foreit - MEASURE Evaluation, 01 Feb 2017

This study expands on an earlier study that reported a tight linear fit between national adult HIV prevalence and the percentage of children living in a household with at least one HIV-positive adult. The authors extended this analysis to all existing DHS data sets with HIV testing, to determine the feasibility of using regression modeling to estimate the size of two priority groups: (1) children living with at least one adult who is HIV-positive, and (2) orphans and coresident children living with at least one adult who is HIV-positive.