Worldwide, more than 15 million children under age 18 have been
orphaned as a result of AIDS. More than 12 million of these children
live in sub-Sahara Africa. As
HIV has become more prevalent among the adult population of this
region, the impact of HIV-associated deaths is expected to occur
within this decade. By 2010, the expected number of AIDS orphans
in sub-Saharan Africa my reach 15.7 million. AIDS
has left vast numbers of children across Africa without one or both
parents.
Often
overlooked is the ripple effect this epidemic can have on future
governance, emotional depletion of social structures and economic
impairment of the worst hit countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Tanzania
is tied with Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe as Africa's second highest
in the number of AIDS orphans; behind South Africa, leading with
1,200,000. High mortality rates result in the depletion of the
labor force, both in urban and rural areas, impacting the very foundations
of economies and state administration.
 Tanzania's
2001 National Policy on HIV/AIDS defined an orphan as a child ages
0-15 who has lost both parents. There are 1,100,000 AIDS orphans
in Tanzania (2005). AIDS
orphans make up 2.9% of the population of Tanzania.
Children from
the poorest households, those whose parents were uneducated, and
those with the least access to health care are the most severely
affected. Many of these orphans grow up without parental care
and love. Children of HIV parents often experience negative impact,
including physical and emotional neglect, long before they are orphaned.
Then suffer the emotional trauma of loosing one or both parents.
Many children who have lost a parent to AIDS continue to live with
the surviving parent, or family member; and often must become responsible
for housework, care of other siblings, or another dying parent.
AIDS orphans often have little or no support, and may suffer exploitation
and abuse once orphaned.
Tanzanian households are coping with adult deaths by delaying enrollment
of young children in school, while maintaining enrollment of older
children. Among orphans, only maternal orphans are being held back.
The practice of delaying enrollment of primary-age children is already
the norm in Tanzania; studies have found that over 80 percent of
primary-age children have delayed enrollment.
The 1999 TRCHS found that 3.2 percent of Tanzanian women are widowed.
Property "grabbing" is a phenomenon wherein relatives forcefully
take possession of the deceased's household goods, land, livestock,
clothes, and other assets. This scenario exacerbates the already
precarious situation of widows and their children. AIDS orphans
are also a target of property grabbing.
Extended families sometimes see additional food, clothing and school fees
as a severe burden, therefore deciding to not take on other children orphaned
by AIDS. Children of HIV/AIDS parents are also weighed down by the stigma
of social isolation, fear and rejection because they are assumed to be
HIV positive themselves. Sometimes, healthcare may even be denied them
as it is assumed they are infected with HIV and that their illness is untreatable.
 AIDS is generating orphans so quickly, and in such large numbers never
known before, that traditional systems of caring for orphaned
children are overwhelmed. Due to the poverty level of Tanzania, families
and communities can barely take care of themselves—without the additional
care of AIDS orphans. HIV reduces the caring capacity of families and communities
by deepening poverty, as well as the loss of labor.
Typically, half of the HIV infections occur before the age of 25, then
developing into AIDS and dying by the age of 35—leaving behind a
generation to be cared for by grandparents, other relatives, or by child-headed
households—as many children already function as heads of households
and as caregivers. Until the problem of adult deaths by AIDS is
addressed the orphan crisis is likely to continue and worsen. The number
of children in need of support is increasing rapidly. This will require
both financial and personnel commitment for the next several years.
In the early days of the AIDS orphan crisis, there was a rush by well
meaning non-governmental organizations to build orphanages. Given the scale
of the problem, this response became unsustainable, as the cost of maintaining
a child in an institution is much greater than other forms of care. Most
people now believe that orphans should be cared for in family units through
extended family networks, foster families and adoption, and that siblings
should not be separated. Studies in sub-Saharan Africa have repeatedly
demonstrated that growing up in a family environment is more beneficial
to a child than institutional care, which should be considered a temporary
option or a last resort.
^TOP ECONOMIC IMPACT >
www.avert.org/aidsorphans.htm
United Nations Children's
Fund (2003) 'Statement by UNIDEF representative Bjorn Ljungqvist,
HIV/AIDS orphans survey findings conference', April 8
UNAIDS, 2006 Report on the
Global AIDS Epidemic, Chapter 4: the impact of AIDS on people and
societies
UNAIDS/UNICEF/USAID, 'Children
on the Brink 2004: A joint report of new orphan estimates and a
framework for action'
http://www.un.org/events/tenstories/story.asp?storyID=400
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