World AIDS Day - 01 December

SOS Children knows, perhaps better than anyone else, how AIDS impacts the lives of children. So on World AIDS Day, we underline our commitment to children whose lives have been uprooted by the epidemic. SOS Children has grassroots projects in most countries in Africa working at a simple level giving practical support to children. Last year, SOS Children supported nearly 50,000 AIDS orphans in their family home in 44 African countries.

Estimates are around 2.1 million children living with HIV and 15 million who have lost one or both parents to AIDS. Particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV/AIDS now defines the structure of families, and it is one of the main reasons for the dramatic increase in the number of orphaned children.

We are committed to helping children and their families deal with this epidemic and do so on many fronts. We support the most vulnerable families (where the breadwinner has HIV or has already died) to ensure they have the means to care for children and, make sure a child can remain at home. Where no viable family is left, we take children into our Villages and build a new family for them.

Across the board SOS Children does everything else we can ranging from: awareness building, on how HIV/AIDS is spread and how mother-to-child transmission can be prevented; to offering voluntary counseling and testing for parents living with the virus. Material aid in the form of food and school fees is provided to particularly vulnerable households, as is anti-retroviral treatment for infected parents.

Many of the children who are particularly at risk of ending up on the streets are living in families with one or more terminally ill parents. In other cases, often households headed by either a grandparent or an older sibling after parental death. Many such households, live in extreme poverty and are lacking basic necessities such as food and clothing, as well as being mostly completely deprived of health care and education. In urban areas, many end up as street children and are exposed to sexual exploitation, as well as being at high risk of becoming HIV/AIDS infected.

In Swaziland for example, SOS Children is supporting families that are particularly at risk of abandoning their children through its social centre in Mbabane. Under this programme, families are provided with monthly support for food, clothing, school fees and medical aid to ensure they have the means to care for their children. Swaziland is one of the Sub-Saharan African countries that will see the largest increase in the number of orphans by 2010. Another one of the most severely affected countries is Lesotho where 80 percent of the orphans will have lost at least one parent to HIV/AIDS. Through its social centre in Maseru, SOS Children is carrying out home visits to especially vulnerable families to ensure that the psychological, physical and educational needs of the children are being provided for.

However, even though a large number of children orphaned and affected by AIDS live in Sub-Saharan Africa, 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. SOS Children is also working in these regions to provide preventive measures, offer information and fight against taboos concerning HIV/AIDS.

Providing practical help: Zanana’s story

Zanana may only be 26 years old, but she has already learned more about life than some people many years older. Zanana is HIV-positive, out of work, and shunned by others around her. Despite this, she is embracing life as a volunteer counsellor at the SOS Social Centre in Mthatha, South Africa , which operates from the local SOS Children's Village. "For me, being HIV-positive and living a positive life go hand in hand”.

Zanana holds support group meetings for more than 30 people from the Mthatha community every week for two or three hours. HIV-positive people come together in an environment of acceptance to discuss their problems, challenges and fears. "When I was diagnosed at the clinic I didn't know what to do or what it was all about. I didn't believe I was HIV-positive because I didn't feel sick. Now I know that you can be healthy and still have the disease," said one member. The group meetings are a place where members receive advice on issues such as grant applications. "Some people can wait up to two years before they receive any financial assistance from their applications," added Zanana.

The groups also discuss issues such as how to bring up children and help them deal with the possibility of losing a parent, dealing with and attending funerals, learning to live a positive life as well as practical advice on coping with the physical effects of the disease.

"When my family found out I was HIV-positive, they bought me my own spoon and dish so that my things would not mix with theirs. I am now stigmatised and isolated, together with my eight-year-old daughter," recalled one member of the group. Another said, "My family is only interested in me when I have money. Otherwise, they don't want me."

Zanana believes the group support and counselling at the SOS Social Centre is having a very positive effect on these peoples' lives. "Because of this stigmatisation, some of the members do not want to disclose their HIV-positive status to their families. The group can help them with this. We tell them that no one is alone. We are all HIV-positive so we can all help each other."

Some of the group's members live many kilometres from the SOS Children's Village, but they try not to miss a meeting. "Transport for some of our members is a problem. Sometimes they will walk for an hour or more just to get to the meeting," said Zanana, who, together with SOS nurse Olive, often venture out on home visits. They visit sick members at their homes to wash and feed them. As part of her volunteer work Zanana also conducts HIV/AIDS education/information sessions with SOS children, youth, mothers and teachers. She also travels to hospitals and clinics, where she shares her positive message.

The SOS Social Centre in Mthatha is just one of many hundreds of projects supporting families and communities affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Read more about SOS Children's work tackling HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Help us

By donating to SOS Children you can help us care for children orphaned and made vulnerable by AIDS.

You can help us continue to make sure they grow up in a caring family, have equal access to education and other essential services, and are protected against stigma and discrimination.