The Growth of AIDS Orphans and Policy Solutions
The Growth of AIDS Orphans and Policy Solutions
The global AIDS epidemic is causing not only high numbers of adult deaths but also creating high numbers of orphans that will increase dramatically within the next 10 years. During the XIV International AIDS Conference held late this summer, "Children on the Brink" was released outlining this growing problem. The report was issued by the United Nations program on AIDS, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Agency for International Development with statistical evidence from the Census Bureau. By 2010, AIDS will leave 20 million children in Africa without one or both parents, nearly double the current 11 million orphaned children (Altman, 2002) Additionally, 5 million children will be orphaned elsewhere in the world due to the parent's death(s) from AIDS. By the end of 2002 (in 88 countries studied for the report), 13.4 million children currently under age 15 will have lost a mother, father, or both parents to AIDS (UNICEF, 2002a). This number will increase to 25 million by 2010. Currently, sub-Saharan Africa has the largest number of orphans: 12.5% of all children in this region are orphans compared with 6.5% in Asia and 5% in Latin America and the Caribbean. Translated into real numbers, there are 34 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa, and 11 million are due to AIDS. By 2010, it is estimated that 42 million orphans will exist in sub-Saharan Africa due to all causes, of whom 20 million will be AIDS-related deaths of parents or caregivers (UNICEF, 2002a).
The global AIDS epidemic is causing not only high numbers of adult deaths but also creating high numbers of orphans that will increase dramatically within the next 10 years. During the XIV International AIDS Conference held late this summer, "Children on the Brink" was released outlining this growing problem. The report was issued by the United Nations program on AIDS, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Agency for International Development with statistical evidence from the Census Bureau. By 2010, AIDS will leave 20 million children in Africa without one or both parents, nearly double the current 11 million orphaned children (Altman, 2002) Additionally, 5 million children will be orphaned elsewhere in the world due to the parent's death(s) from AIDS. By the end of 2002 (in 88 countries studied for the report), 13.4 million children currently under age 15 will have lost a mother, father, or both parents to AIDS (UNICEF, 2002a). This number will increase to 25 million by 2010. Currently, sub-Saharan Africa has the largest number of orphans: 12.5% of all children in this region are orphans compared with 6.5% in Asia and 5% in Latin America and the Caribbean. Translated into real numbers, there are 34 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa, and 11 million are due to AIDS. By 2010, it is estimated that 42 million orphans will exist in sub-Saharan Africa due to all causes, of whom 20 million will be AIDS-related deaths of parents or caregivers (UNICEF, 2002a).