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Support for Communities is Key to Saving a Generation of AIDS Orphans -- July 10, 2000

In the next ten years, the number of orphans living in the 34 countries hardest hit by HIV will rise from 15 million to at least 24 million, largely as a result of AIDS deaths. Grassroots leaders and public health specialists agree that strengthening the ability of extended families and communities to nurture and support these orphans may be the only way to save a generation of vulnerable children.

Without such support, "the numbers are simply going to overwhelm any kind of possible service response," John Williamson, senior technical advisor to the United States Agency for International Development’s Displaced Children and Orphans Fund, said in the June issue of IMPACT on HIV, a magazine about HIV/AIDS prevention and care published by Family Health International (FHI).

More than 13 million children have already lost a mother or both parents to AIDS. And in eight African countries -- Botswana, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe -- one out of every three or four children will be an orphan by 2010.

"Even if HIV incidence were to level off tomorrow, you’d still have an increase in the number of orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS for at least ten to 20 years to come," said FHI Technical Officer Sara Bowsky. "The impact of the epidemic will linger for decades."

FHI is working with grassroots organizations in six countries to improve efforts to support orphans and other vulnerable children. Recognizing that programs providing direct material assistance to orphans reach only a fraction of those in need, FHI instead works to strengthen the traditional safety net of extended families and their communities.

FHI’s programs also help families affected by HIV/AIDS before illness or death leaves children destitute and alone. Such support can help parents identify guardians for their children, secure low-interest loans, start savings accounts and plan for the future.

One parent, a 24-year-old South African woman living with HIV/AIDS, shared her story with IMPACT on HIV. She talks about the support group that helps sustain her, run by one of FHI’s South African partners, Hope Worldwide, and her hopes for her two-year-old HIV-negative daughter. "I pray to God that he keeps me alive until my daughter is ready to listen to what I want to tell her," she said.

Other stories in this issue of IMPACT on HIV examine:

• An effective approach to reducing sexually transmitted diseases in South African mining communities, which has involved a growing number of mining companies and trade union branches in HIV/AIDS prevention.
• The challenges and achievements of a network of people living with HIV/AIDS in India in their courageous struggle against discrimination and repression.
• Efforts to mobilize the Russian response to a skyrocketing HIV/AIDS epidemic by building the capacity of a talented cadre of local nongovernmental organizations.