Plan: Working with Children Affected by HIV/AIDS

Childreach
Wednesday, 8 May 2002

Plan is an international child-focused development organization, committed to promoting the rights of children worldwide. It is part of the Global Movement for Children and the Hope for African Children Initiative.

The Facts

- There are 33.2 million people in the world infected with the HIV virus, almost three quarters of them live in sub-Saharan Africa.

- AIDS kills 5500 children, women and men in Africa every day, devastating the continent.

- While Africa accounts for just ten percent of the world's population, it is home to almost 70 percent of all people living with HIV/AIDS.

- For the first time in history, several African countries are experiencing a decrease in population growth as a consequence of the AIDS pandemic. Millions of African children have been orphaned due to AIDS, while even greater numbers live in families where at least one parent is HIV-infected.

- Unless an emergency response is actuated immediately, an estimated 40 million African children will be orphaned by 2010.

To address the AIDS pandemic in Africa and around the world, Plan has been working with communities in a number of ways. To increase awareness it supports sharing of HIV/AIDS information, education, and communication using creative AIDS techniques such as radio, television, theatre and dance groups. Plan however, recognises that prevention alone is not enough to effectively address the pandemic, thus it has expanded its AIDS work to include care and support for children and families affected by AIDS, including treatment of opportunistic infections, whenever possible.

Community-Centered Programming

Plan's work is focused on the community. Its community-based programs work with local people, help them identify their community-specific needs and develop projects to meet those needs. Through this approach, Plan programs aim to educate and mobilise opinion leaders, strengthen and empower social networks to safeguard the interests of children, and lay the foundation for local ownership of programs. In recent years, Plan's AIDS programs have provided voluntary HIV counselling and testing, assistance to people living with AIDS, counselling and psychosocial support to HIV-positive parents and guardians, and assistance to orphans and vulnerable children.

Building Awareness

To help reduce the stigma and discrimination surrounding AIDS, Plan has started several Post-Test Clubs where people who have tested for HIV exchange experiences and support each other psychologically and socially. These clubs are not exclusive to HIV-positive people, but encourage all community members who have tested to join. Club members share information about HIV/AIDS through theatre performances at market places and other community gatherings. They also refer people to free testing, condoms and counselling services. Members talk openly about the disease and show that one can live an active and normal life, despite being HIV-positive.

Ensuring the Children's Future and Preparing Families for Transition

Many children who lose their parents have no relatives to take them in, leaving the eldest child to head the household and care for younger siblings. Children often lack inheritance rights, are forced to leave school, and as a result of poverty, may resort to crime or prostitution. Plan assists orphans and vulnerable children with school fees for education or vocational training for youth. Through occupations such as carpentry, bricklaying, tailoring or working as a clerk, young people can support themselves and their siblings.

Plan works with single parents who are HIV-positive by ensuring them access to health services and providing them with funding to start income generating activities. HIV-positive parents are encouraged to write wills to protect their children's inheritance rights and to select guardians to care for their children after they are gone.

Care and Support

Plan emphasises care, protection and support of children and families affected by HIV/AIDS. Psychosocial support is essential. Families are encouraged to write memory books to help prepare the HIV-positive parent and children for the loss of the parent. In these diaries parents write down stories from their childhood, memories from their own lives, the children's first years and other important milestones. This provides children with a family history and important information about their past when the parents have passed away.

Program Examples:

Plan Mali: In Mali, Plan conducted a project to increase the level of HIV/AIDS awareness and knowledge among young and vulnerable groups. A total of 175,000 training sessions were held for 2.3 million people in over 2000 communities. The sessions included group discussions, home visits, theatre shows, radio messages, and presentations at schools for women's and youth groups. The materials produced included leaflets, videos, toys and television spots. The campaign also made condoms accessible to the communities.

Plan Zimbabwe: In the Eastern highlands of Zimbabwe, Plan supports the Family Awareness Caring and Trust (FACT), a community-based organisation that trains peer educators to increase the level of AIDS awareness among workers in tea estates, distribute condoms and refer people to HIV counselling and testing. FACT also assists orphans and provides home-based care.

For more information, or to contact Childreach, see their website at: www.childreach.org