YOU ARE HERE:
Children affected by HIV/AIDS
Urgent support is needed for families and communities which include children affected by HIV/AIDS
To download this policy statement as a PDF file, click here.
The International HIV/AIDS Alliance works with communities in developing countries to prevent the spread of HIV, support and care for those infected and ease the impact of the epidemic on families and communities.
In the countries most affected by HIV/AIDS, all children are touched by the epidemic and their lives are affected in unprecedented ways. In countries with advanced epidemics and in those where the effects of HIV are less overwhelming, children directly affected by the epidemic suffer trauma and hardship especially through the illness and death of a parent. Children and their families need urgent support to overcome the economic, social, health and security challenges posed by HIV/AIDS.
Since its establishment in 1993, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance has provided both technical and financial support to over 1,500 HIV/AIDS projects and has worked with NGOs and CBOs from over 40 countries. This experience reveals that:
one generation to the next. Unsupported girl children are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and sexual abuse.
The Alliance believes that the United Nations and Member States should:
The Alliance’s contribution is and will continue to be:
What are the priorities of children orphaned by AIDS?
Involving and listening to children is a priority for NGO action:
"I work hard to make others love me."
"I want not to have to beg."
"I want a school bag so that I can look like other children."
"I want the same rights and freedoms that other people have."
The International HIV/AIDS Alliance
mailto:mail@aidsalliance.org
www.aidsalliance.org
www.aidsmap.com
May 2001
To download this policy statement as a PDF file, click here.
The International HIV/AIDS Alliance works with communities in developing countries to prevent the spread of HIV, support and care for those infected and ease the impact of the epidemic on families and communities.
In the countries most affected by HIV/AIDS, all children are touched by the epidemic and their lives are affected in unprecedented ways. In countries with advanced epidemics and in those where the effects of HIV are less overwhelming, children directly affected by the epidemic suffer trauma and hardship especially through the illness and death of a parent. Children and their families need urgent support to overcome the economic, social, health and security challenges posed by HIV/AIDS.
Since its establishment in 1993, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance has provided both technical and financial support to over 1,500 HIV/AIDS projects and has worked with NGOs and CBOs from over 40 countries. This experience reveals that:
- Support is most urgent for children in very poor situations who have lost one or both parents to HIV. Orphaned children, especially if they are unsupported, are likely to be in vulnerable situations and therefore also at increased risk of becoming infected with HIV. Children who are not orphans are affected by the increasing burden on adoptive families. All children are affected by the impact of the epidemic on the teaching and caring professions, the loss of those close to them and the grief this entails, and the loss of transfer of knowledge and community values from
one generation to the next. Unsupported girl children are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and sexual abuse.
- All children should be securely cared for within families and communities. Institutional care is a last resort. Community resources are overburdened, and support is essential if the psycho-social needs of affected children are to be addressed.
- For the most vulnerable children, those whose parents are infected with HIV, care and support needs to start before children are orphaned. They need help if they are caring for their parents and uninterrupted support when a parent dies. Support for children must be an integral part of programmes reaching parents with HIV/AIDS.
- Care for orphaned children, whatever the cause of their parents’ death, should be streamlined to avoid creating additional stigma and discrimination.
- Children infected by HIV are a minority of affected children but have special needs that are not currently being met. Care and support for such children should urgently be integrated into existing support systems for people with HIV/AIDS.
The Alliance believes that the United Nations and Member States should:
- Call for urgent attention to the needs of all children in affected countries and particularly for those made most vulnerable by the epidemic.
- Actively support community mobilisation efforts to address the needs of affected children and actively develop polices to ensure resources to enable all affected children to have full access to education, health and other essential services.
- Strengthen existing health, education and welfare services to cope with the additional problems experienced by unsupported children and design new services in such a way that they do not increase stigma and discrimination.
- Openly and vehemently challenge discriminatory attitudes and enact laws and policies that reduce the vulnerability of children and enforce their rights as human beings.
- Encourage the participation of children in the development of services and programmes for them.
- Call for increased attention to the needs of children who are infected with HIV and ensure that children’s needs are recognised in efforts to improve access to treatment for HIV.
The Alliance’s contribution is and will continue to be:
- To integrate care, support and prevention activities for children into existing care and support programmes, including home care programmes, and ensure that children’s needs are recognised in efforts to improve access to treatment more generally.
- To mobilise and strengthen the quality of programmes providing psycho-social support to vulnerable children both directly and through their communities.
- To facilitate and strengthen the capacities of families and communities to develop their own responses.
- To share the experience we are gaining in work with children both between Alliance partners and more broadly in order to advocate for effective approaches.
What are the priorities of children orphaned by AIDS?
Involving and listening to children is a priority for NGO action:
"I work hard to make others love me."
"I want not to have to beg."
"I want a school bag so that I can look like other children."
"I want the same rights and freedoms that other people have."
The International HIV/AIDS Alliance
mailto:mail@aidsalliance.org
www.aidsalliance.org
www.aidsmap.com
May 2001