There is widespread recognition of the urgency necessary to address the problem of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) within the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, especially in sub- Saharan Africa. Many countries in the region, in collaboration with development agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), have outlined policy guidelines and identified models of intervention. As a result, a considerable number of programmes targeting OVC have been implemented in the past few years. However, there are very few which have been independently evaluated in order to establish sustainable best practice models, which can confidently be recommended for replication and scaling up to meet the rapidly growing need with regard to OVC. This review of recent literature aims to provide an overview of interventions for OVC that focus on providing home-based services (where possible those which have been evaluated in some manner). A number of examples of projects in various African countries are presented in some detail, following which some common principles of best practice that emerge from an assessment of these projects are highlighted.
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