Do you want to find out about a charity that gives hope to children affected by AIDS and works on the ground to protect many more children and families from AIDS?

Here we explain our approach to the AIDS crisis in Africa. If you are interested in learning how a large charity that works across Africa operates, see AIDS Africa projects.

To support AIDS Orphans and enable them to have some sort of life please

Make a regular donation for AIDS Orphans

A regular commitment is a great way to ensure long term care and stability for an AIDS affected family.

Africa's major Child Charity

We've been helping orphans in Africa for over 40 years. Today we work in 45 countries across Africa and have very experienced and thoughtful staff on the ground to help shape our approach.

Since nearly a decade ago AIDS and AIDS orphans have become a major focus of our work, both because AIDS is now the major cause of children left alone who we take into our Village families and also because our mission of trying to give children a family childhood puts AIDS as the central challenge.

We help children and young people whose future is at stake as a consequence of HIV/AIDS. This could be because they are orphaned by AIDS, because their parents are infected with the virus and they are the main carers for younger siblings, or because the children are HIV positive. To start off with we ran simple nurse led programs based on three visits a week to child headed families (we still do) but since then we have analysed other opportunities to help in the most effective way possible (such as prevention work).

Our work for AIDS Orphans is growing. In 2005, there were just 57 SOS Social Centres and social support programmes working with children affected by HIV/AIDS on the whole African continent. As of 2010 we have hundreds of thousands of children on our programmes throughout all the 45 countries in Africa where we work. These include numerous schools, vocational training centres and medical centres that are actively involved in supporting AIDS Orphans and promoting AIDS awareness. The number of beneficiaries is growing all the time, but we are aiming to support ten children in the community for each child who ends up living in our Villages because they have no viable community to live in.

How we help AIDS Orphans: A Case Study

As an example of our work for AIDS affected family, there is a new initiative by the SOS Social and Medical Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. This year, the "Haven of Love" was founded there, which is a protected space for those afflicted by HIV/AIDS and HIV positive children aged three to fourteen.

Studies show that life expectancy in HIV positive children increases with proper psychological care. This also includes informing them carefully on their illness (many parents do not  out of fear that their children will suffer exclusion).

The "Haven of Love" offers games therapy, outdoor activities, nutrition programmes, family days, information seminars for children and much more. Besides HIV positive children, children whose parents or brothers and sisters have contracted AIDS are the second target group.

One of the main goals pursued by "Haven of Love" and all Family Strengthening Programmes run by SOS Children's Villages is the area of HIV/AIDS prevention. But that does not mean we are not heavily involved in improving the quality of life of those already affected through counselling, support services and care. We help children cope with the disease in the family context and to provide emotional stability.

How you can help AIDS affected children and families

You may have read a lot about the problem of AIDS in Africa and wondered whether you can really make a difference. We think that you can. One way to help AIDS affected families is to make a small, regular commitment to a charity that has a long history working in Africa.

If you choose us as that charity, we suggest that you help prevent AIDS orphans by supporting our Family Strengthening Programmes that run in AIDS affected communities and help AIDS affected families. 

Alternatively, if you want a more personal relationship where you can really see what difference you are making to the life of a child, you can sponsor a child with us in Africa in one of our SOS Children's Villages. Whilst we do not say that a particular child has been affected by AIDS, for social reasons and to avoid stigmatisation, we will be working hard to give each child the best chance in life, whether affected by AIDS or not.  To find out how we do this, look at our AIDS strategy.