Aids in Africa

Could you help an Aids Orphan today? The social support programmes of SOS Children's Villages help children and young people whose future is at stake as a consequence of HIV/Aids. This could be because their parents are infected with the virus and they are the main carers, or because the children are HIV positive. The number of social support programmes and SOS Social Centres that organise support is rising steadily. In 2005, there were 57 SOS Social Centres and social support programmes working with children affected by HIV/Aids on the African continent. By the late-2007, the number of projects/centres was 78. These include numerous schools, vocational training centres, medical centres throught the world that are actively involved in Aids awareness.

There is also a remarkable 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 on their illness which many parents do not do 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 in the area of HIV/Aids prevention, counselling, support services and care is to help the children cope with the disease in the family context and to provide emotional stability. SOS Children's Villages runs social support projects, SOS Social Centres and medical centres for children afflicted by HIV/Aids and their families in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya, Niger, Benin, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Swaziland, Togo, Uganda, Ukraine und Estonia, among others. The end of this year shall see 27,000 children and young people receive support in the context of these activities.

Aids Africa Children: HIV / AIDS Orphans

We are all becoming more and more aware of the scale of human suffering caused by HIV / AIDS in Africa, especially for the children who are orphaned and often lose siblings to AIDS.

SOS Children has grassroots projects in most countries in Africa (see Africa Charity projects ) working at a simple level giving practical support to children. Last year, thanks to people like you, SOS Children supported 44,000 AIDS Orphans in their old family home in 44 countries through three visits a week with practical help, food, medicine and love. Children are saved one by one and every contribution or small regular donation helps us to help another child.

However, there is so much more to do…

AIDS in Africa background

There is an epidemic of AIDS engulfing much of Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa. In some African countries it is estimated that 40% of the working-age population has contracted HIV, with younger and more successful workers being most likely to be affected. However, this is never uniform across a population; 40% of a whole African country will mean there are areas where virtually everyone has contracted HIV / AIDS. The worst affected countries include Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Lesotho. In places like these, village after village has no young adults left. The scale of the problem is overwhelming.

It is hard to know how to approach such a situation. SOS Children has developed a strategy for AIDS orphans in Afirca where we do not move children from their familiar background but strengthen their community to look after them. SOS has projects helping more than 44,000 African children orphaned by AIDS in 44 African countries, and is growing as fast as you allow us to. We are continually improving our approach with the exchange of experience and best practice. Details of more established projects, such as all our Children's Villages in Africa can be found on our Africa Pages. More about our AIDS orphan programmes are divided into Central and East Africa AIDS Orphan projects and Southern Africa AIDS orphan projects.

Inevitably many of those affected are the parents of young children. When parents start to develop full-blown AIDS, they cannot work and need to be looked after. But the situation is so bad that in parts of Africa no adults are able to help. The children not only have the distress of seeing their parents become weaker and weaker but they no longer have anyone providing for them and often have to try to help care for their parents. It is not unusual to find very young children or some of their brothers and sisters with AIDS (about half of all children of HIV-affected African mothers end up with AIDS themselves), orphaned and caring for toddlers. It is estimated that 90% of the world’s HIV-infected children live in Africa, and more than half a million die of AIDS each year.

You can read here about a child-headed family and how SOS Children is supporting them.

AIDS in Africa: the way forward?

So is this a hopeless situation? No, it is tragic but not hopeless. At present, for those infected with HIV / AIDS all we can try to ensure is that they are loved and cared for as they grow weaker. For the many young children in Africa who do not have HIV / AIDS, we can make a huge difference. The difference between love and abandonment, between a group of young children scavenging for scraps and a small child-led family with adequate nourishment and even the chance of school.

You can read SOS Children’s latest policy on AIDS and meetings of our AIDS best practice workshop as more background.

AIDS: Only affecting Africa?

It is true that the most children orphaned and affected by AIDS live in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, as the infection spreads, the number of children who are living with HIV-infected parents and who have lost parents to AIDS is beginning to grow in other regions, including Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

For example, Russia has the fastest growing HIV rates in the world, with 100 new infections every day. Russia accounts for around two-thirds of the cases in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. There were an estimated 940,000 people living with HIV at the end of 2005 in Russia - up from 760,000 in 2003 - and this figure looks set to increase even further. Some 20 babies are born every day to HIV-positive women, with two of those, on average, abandoned by their mothers. Read here about SOS Children projects in Russia

Read about World AIDS Day 2008 01 December 2008