World AIDS Day

Childreach
Friday, 1 December 2000

HIV/AIDS: PLAN International Focuses On Providing Care And Support For Children Affected By The Pandemic

Children and the communities they live in should be at the center of any strategy that aims to address the AIDS pandemic, says Abiola Tilley-Gyado, Senior Technical Health Advisor to PLAN International, a child-focused humanitarian development organization that works in more than sixty countries. Providing care and support to children affected by AIDS goes beyond prevention efforts. It is a strategy that addresses core issues such as extending the life of parents, planning for the future of children together with their HIV positive parents, and enabling other families to raise the children of a deceased relative or friend.

With an estimated 13 million children who have already been orphaned as a consequence of AIDS, international development organizations face a daunting task in the field for years to come. By 2020 there may be 42 million children orphaned by AIDS in the world, a number approximately equivalent to the populations of California and Florida combined. Despite hopeful data-which this year indicates that the new rates of infection are leveling off in some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the problem is destined to remain a long term one. Countries like Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe will reach their peak proportion of AIDS orphans between 2020 and 2030.

The implications of this reality for children are, to say the least, catastrophic. "Children risk losing their families, along with their identity", explains Pierre-Marie Metangmo, Senior Health Programs Coordinator for PLAN International. "They will be stigmatized for their parents having died from AIDS, and they will become more vulnerable to abuse, neglect, and malnutrition. Their status as orphans will reduce their already meager chances of accessing education and health care services. Their vulnerability to HIV will also increase significantly".

In a recently released policy paper outlining strategies to address the needs of children directly or indirectly affected by HIV/AIDS, PLAN International emphasizes the need to ensure access to education, health care services, and better economic opportunities at the community level. AIDS in Africa is not just a medical problem, says Abiola Tilley-Gyado, but a development issue. It is linked to poverty and an overall lack of resources. Once a child becomes an orphan, they will live with that burden for the rest of their lives, even when statistics improve and seem to provide a glimpse of hope.

Seventy percent of the countries where PLAN International currently works implement a gamut of HIV/AIDS interventions. In Uganda, one the countries where the AIDS epidemic appears to be leveling off, PLAN International is engaged in a broad partnership with other organizations to address the needs of children and adults affected by HIV/AIDS. The holistic and interconnected nature of these interventions is what distinguishes this country approach from others and what is making Uganda a best practice model for addressing the AIDS epidemic in Africa. In Uganda PLAN International is supporting HIV positive parents to identify guardians for their children, assisting parents in drafting wills to ensure the rights of their children, and promoting the creation of Memory Books to document the family history.

PLAN International is also currently involved in the Hope for African Children initiative, a pan African effort that aims to develop a variety of proven, cost effective services to children and families whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS. Established in the summer of 2000, the initiative brings together four other international development organizations: Save the Children, CARE, the World Conference on Religion and Peace and the Society of Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA), an AIDS advocacy organization with chapters in 30 African countries.

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