Risks For Children Orphaned By AIDS

"It is not an exaggeration to say that play is as basic to your child's total development as good food, cleanliness, and rest." –Joanne E. Oppenheim

RISKS FOR CHILDREN ORPHANED BY AIDS

The most recent "Coordinators' Notebook" published by the Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development (CG), focuses on "HIV/AIDS and Early Childhood.  One of the articles in this publication, "The Two Who Survive" by Diane Lusk and Chloe O'Gare, offers this insight on children orphaned by AIDS...

"Little is known directly about the state of care of young orphans, but a variety of factors suggest the presence of many risks.  As orphans, children under five may be the least welcome foster children.  They can contribute almost nothing to household work or income and require the most intensive care.  Being closer in time to a parent's death than older orphans, young children are more likely to be seen as a part of the death, bringing with them contagion or the curse of witchcraft; they may also be seen as inevitably infected through birth and breastfeeding.  Many young orphans are in the care of elderly grandparents or older siblings in child-headed households who have little knowledge of the nutritional and medical needs of young children.  Children under five in all circumstances are more vulnerable to potentially fatal malnutrition, diarrhea and pneumonia; in the context of AIDS, children are less likely to receive any treatment which requires extra travel time and medical fees.  How do caregivers invest the time, energy, emotion, and money in the care of young children they see as both dangerous and likely to die?"

This Notebook can be purchased from CG at:  http://www.ecdgroup.com/coordinators_notebook.asp.

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