AIDS orphans statistics

By 2003, 15 million children under 18 had been orphaned by HIV/AIDS worldwide. Around 80% of them live in sub-Saharan Africa , which has the highest proportion of AIDS orphans. Asia has the highest number of AIDS orphans, with around 2 million living in India , the highest number for any individual country. In sub-Saharan Africa it is estimated that by 2010, over 18 million African children will have lost 1 or both parents to AIDS and the number of double orphans will increase by around 2 million over the
same period. In 11 of the 43 countries in sub-Saharan Africa , more than 15% of children are orphaned. These countries are Angola , Botswana , Burundi , Central African Republic , Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho , Mozambique , Rwanda , Swaziland , Zambia and Zimbabwe.Botswana has the highest number of orphans in Africa with 20% of all children having lost one or both parents. Millions more children live in households with sick and dying family members. Although not yet orphaned, these children also suffer from the effects of HIV/AIDS. The scale of the problem As the number of adults dying of AIDS rises over the next decade, an
increasing number of orphans will grow up without parental care and love and will be deprived of their basic rights to shelter, food, health and education.The scale of the AIDS orphan crisis is somewhat masked by the time lag between HIV infection, death and orphaning. Even if all new HIV infections were to stop today, the numbers of orphans would continue to rise for at least the next 10 years. In African countries that have already had long, severe epidemics, AIDS is generating orphans so quickly that family structures can no longer cope. Traditional safety nets are unravelling as more young adults die of AIDS related illnesses. Families and communities can barely fend for themselves, let alone take care of the orphans. Typically, half of the people with HIV become infected before they are aged 25, developing AIDS and dying by the time they are aged 35, leaving behind a generation of children to be raised by their grandparents or left on their own in child-headed households. More children have been orphaned by AIDS in Africa than anywhere else. The deep-rooted kinship systems that exist in Africa , extended - family networks of aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents, are an age-old social safety net for such children, and it has long proved itself resilient even to major social changes. But capacity and resources are now stretched to breaking point, and those providing the necessary care are in many cases already impoverished, often elderly and have often themselves depended financially and physically on the support of the very son or daughter who has died. 'Almost throughout sub-Saharan Africa , there have been traditional systems in place to take care of children who lose their parents for various reasons. But the onslaught of HIV slowly but surely erodes this good traditional practise by simply overloading its caring capacity by the sheer number of orphaned children needing support and
 care. HIV also undermines the caring capacity of families and communities by deepening poverty due to loss of labour and the high cost of medical treatment and funerals.'1 Difficulties faced by AIDS orphans Of the many vulnerable members of society, young people who have lost one or both parents are among the most exposed of all. And this is particularly true in sub-Saharan Africa , where few social support systems exist outside of families and where basic social services are largely inadequate. There is a concern that they might come to constitute a 'lost generation' of young people who have been marginalised and excluded for much of their lives. The vulnerability of AIDS orphans starts well before the death of a parent. The emotional suffering of the children usually begins with their parents' distress and progressive illness. This is compounded as the disease causes drastic changes in family structure resulting in a heavy economic toll, requiring children to become caretakers and breadwinners, and fuelling conflict as a result of stigma, blame and rejection.
 
A HIV-positive mother holds a picture of her two children"We should remember that the process of losing parents to HIV/AIDS for the children often includes the pain and the shame of the stigma and the fear that the disease carries in most our societies." Statement by UNICEF representative Bjorn Ljunqvist2 Eventually, the children suffer the death of their parent(s) and the emotional trauma that results. They then have to adjust to a new situation, with little or no support, or they may suffer exploitation and abuse.
The death of a parent(s) means children are deprived of affection, attention, love and interpersonal and environmental stimulation which is damaging and traumatic. They experience grief, sorrow and feelings of loneliness and isolation and suffer psychological distress that can have long lasting effects. Their self-esteem and view of themselves as individuals can also be affected.
Since HIV can spread sexually between father and mother, once AIDS has claimed the mother or father, children are far more likely to lose the remaining parent. Children often find themselves taking the role of mother or father or both - doing the housework, looking after siblings and caring for ill or dying parent(s). The children are plunged into economic crisis and insecurity by their parents' death and struggle without services or support systems in impoverished communities.
Children grieving for dying or dead parents are stigmatised by society through association with HIV/AIDS. The distress and social isolation experienced by these children, both before and after the death of their parent(s), is strongly exacerbated by the shame, fear, and rejection that often surrounds people affected by HIV/AIDS. Because of this stigma and often-irrational fear surrounding AIDS, children may be denied access to schooling and health care. And once a parent dies, children particularly in the case of girls, may also be denied their inheritance and property. Often children who have lost their parents to AIDS are assumed to be infected with HIV themselves. This further stigmatises the children and reduces their opportunities in the future .
Orphans enduring the grave social isolation that often accompanies AIDS when it strikes a family, are at far greater risk than most of their peers of eventually becoming infected with HIV. Often emotionally vulnerable and financially desperate, orphans are more likely to be sexually abused and forced into exploitative situations, such as prostitution, as a means of survival. Girls are also in greater risk of becoming infected at a younger age than boys, because they are biologically, socially and economically more vulnerable. Also, orphaned children are more likely to drop out of school and to be drafted into child labour