Family Preservation Program
While the AIDS epidemic is widespread worldwide, in Africa it is threatening not only the population's health, but its basic social structure as well. Currently in Africa there are 34 million orphan children. By 2010 the number of orphans will reach 42 million, with half of these cases being the result of HIV/AIDS. Children are abandoned by relatives who adhere to the social stigma that often accompanies AIDS. Many shun the children for fear of infection. More often than not, extended family simply doesn’t have the necessary resources to care for yet one more orphaned child. Alone and rejected, these children are left to fend for themselves with no one to attend to their physical or emotional needs.
Children on the Brink 2004 states, “The large majority of orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS live with a surviving parent and siblings or with their extended family, and the overwhelming thrust of an effective response must be to give direct substantial support to the families who continue to absorb children who have lost parents. After losing parents and caregivers, children have an even greater need for stability, care and protection. Family capacity – whether the head of household is a widowed parent, an elderly grandparent, or a young person – represents the single most important factor in building a protective environment for children who have lost their parents to AIDS and other causes. There is also an urgent need to develop and scale up family and community based care opportunities for the children living outside of family care”.
