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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The Impact of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic on Kinship Resources for Orphans in Zimbabwe

Emilio Zagheni - Population and Development Review, 13 Dec 2011

In this article, the microsimulator SOCSIM is used to estimate and project quantities such as the number of living uncles, aunts, siblings, and grandparents available to orphans in Zimbabwe.

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Vulnerability & Child Protection in the Face of HIV: Report of the United Nations Technical Review Team on programming for children affected by HIV and AIDS in Malawi

UNICEF Malawi, 01 Nov 2011

This report reviews Malawi’s national response for children affected by HIV and AIDS. The report notes significant progress made in improving the lives of children affected by HIV and AIDS and offers key recommendations for further improvements to national policies and strategies.

Prakas on Procedures to Implement the Policy on Alternative Care for Children (Cambodia)

Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, Kingdom of Cambodia, 01 Oct 2011

This Prakas is intended to define roles and responsibilities of relevant competent agencies and establish procedures, operational guides, and forms to implement the Policy on Alternative Care for Children.

All Children Count: A Baseline Study of Children in Institutional Care in Malawi

The Ministry of Gender, Children, and Community Development of Malawi; Centre for Social Research (CSR) of the University of Malawi; UNICEF Malawi, 31 Aug 2011

This study commissioned by the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Community Development and financially and technically supported by UNICEF and the Better Care Network, describes the situation of children in institutional care in Malawi.

The Psychosocial Support Source Book for Vulnerable Children in Malawi

STOP AIDS NOW, 13 May 2011

This Source Book is a practical guide for service providers working with children in Malawim specifically in psychosocial support services to orphans and other vulnerable children

http://www.crin.org/docs/PSS_SourceBook_FINAL.pdf

Minimum Package of Services for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children and Youth

Southern African Development Community, 2011

The Minimum Package is a guide to encourage the harmonizing of service delivery for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children and Youth (OVCY) across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

Child Protection in the Philippines: A Situational Analysis

Save the Children , 2011

This situational analysis was commissioned by the Child Protection Initiative as a preliminary exercise to develop evidence-based recommendations to guide Save the Children in the Philippines to develop interventions. Priority areas are children in residential care, children in armed conflict and disasters, children in situations of migration (including for trafficking purposes), and children in exploitative and hazardous work conditions.

HIV - Sensitive Social Protection: What Does the Evidence Say?

UNAIDS, 30 Dec 2010

Shows how HIV-sensitive social protection can reduce vulnerability to HIV infection, improve and extend the lives of people living with HIV, and support individuals and households. While not specific to children, the paper includes sections on HIV and Child Protection and HIV and Early Childhood Development.

Children and AIDS Fifth Stocktaking Report

Unite for Children, Unite Against AIDS, 20 Dec 2010

Shares recent findings on progress made and steps needed to achieve an AIDS-free generation through universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, and social protection

http://www.crin.org/docs/ChildrenAndAIDS_Fifth_Stocktaking_Report_2010_EN.pdf

Positively Caring: Ensuring that Positive Choices Can Be Made about the Care of Children Affected by HIV

EveryChild , 20 Nov 2010

This report examines the impacts of HIV on the care choices of children, exploring how HIV affects whether or not children can remain within parental care, and on the alternative care options open to them.