Aids Alert International-Orphan problem likely to escalate as AIDS spreads
Communities provide care to abandoned children
In Luwero, Uganda, guardians who have taken over the care of AIDS orphans have come up with some interesting ways to make ends meet. One person who supports five orphans, for instance, has begun to rear pigs. Another person plans to start a coffee trade enterprise. Yet another man, who has five children and two AIDS orphans, has a bull and a cow with which he hopes to build a business.
These small enterprises, which have received assistance from Association Francois-Xavier Bagnoud (AFXB), a Boston-based foundation dedicated to international humanitarian action, especially regarding HIV and children, typify much of the care that is going to children left orphaned by the AIDS epidemic. The children are being cared for in a variety of community, family, and governmental homes. And as the number of orphans escalates from the more than 11 million currently to an estimated 40 million within the next decade, these individual and small solutions will continue to multiply as well, although possibly not as quickly as the demand.
Resources lacking to support orphans
"The orphan problem is increasing exponentially," says Sandra Anderson, intercountry team care advisor for UNAIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa. She is based in Pretoria, South Africa.
"While there has been a good response from governmental organizations and religious communities, it's nothing in proportion to the magnitude of the problem," Anderson says.
Although the estimate of some 40 million African orphans in future years may seem dramatic, it's not at all unrealistic, notes Jacob Gayle, PhD, senior technical advisor and UNAIDS secretary in Washington, DC.
"It's time for the world to strategize on how to deal with the orphans, because these are the next generation of leaders," Gayle says. "These are the future work force and reproductive force, and so there needs to be regional, local, and global strategizing on how to deal with this issue."
Many of the African governments coping with increases in orphans do not have the resources for expanding orphanages and foster programs. Orphans therefore run a greater risk of malnutrition, HIV infection, stunted growth, and deprivation of basic education and health care.
Relying on communities, not orphanages
Orphanages won't be the ultimate solution because of a lack of funding and infrastructure. "I don't think people are really turning to orphanages as the solution, except perhaps in South Africa, which has more resources to begin with and there was already a history of homes for children run by the Salvation Army and other groups," Anderson says. "In most other communities, they look toward the community for solutions."
The result is a variety of new family types evolving. These include child-headed households, mothers running community-level orphanages, fostering programs that are called family hospitality, and other forms.
While Westerners might imagine massive international adoption efforts, as there were in Vietnam after the Vietnam War, Anderson says that is unlikely to happen and probably shouldn't be the solution.
"It's important to strengthen the local infrastructure to help families cope," she says. "It would be very sad if [international adoption efforts] happen." Also, some African nations make it very difficult to adopt children internationally, and it's often culturally unacceptable.
Rather, Anderson says, the solution will lie in Western nations sending money and resources to help African communities support their own orphans through community group homes or individual foster care.
Some of the international assistance that already has helped includes donations of food, blankets, assistance with school fees, and other efforts. One such group that has been providing this sort of help is the Family AIDS Caring Trust (FACT) of Mutare, Zimbabwe. AFXB is another organization that has worked on the local level to ease the orphan crisis.
"They really need to mobilize the churches in the communities and decentralize this process and get church members to look after people in their own congregations and in their own geographical areas," Anderson says. "So some organizations have created a whole program of volunteers through the churches, and I think that's the kind of creative response that's sustainable. It uses local resources, keeps children in their homes and their own culture, and has the possibility of helping children over a long period of time."
You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content