Children and AIDS ─ Sub-Saharan Africa

The disproportional loss of individuals to HIV/AIDS in their most productive years raises concerns over the welfare of surviving members of affected families and communities. One consequence of the rapid increase in adult mortality is the rise in the proportion of children who are orphaned. Sub-Saharan Africa, accounts for about 90 percent of these. Mainly due to the staggering toll of HIV/AIDS, research effort has focused on treatment and prevention. Children have received attention primarily in relation to 'mother to child transmission' and paediatric AIDS. These issues are important and compelling but fail to capture the whole story - the unprecedented surge in the number of children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. In this book we reflect on the plight of children classified as vulnerable, review interventions implemented to improve their welfare and grapple with the concept of vulnerability as it relates to human rights and the African child.

Margaret Lombe, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. She is also a faculty associate at the Center for Social Development at Washington, University. Her area of expertise is in international social development with an emphasis on social inclusion/exclusion and capacity building. Alex Juma Ochumbo, Ph.D., is the vice president for Capacity Building and Research at the Ethiopian Catholic University of St. Thomas Aquinas (ECUSTA). His main interest is in the area of sustainability of programs to assist HIV/AIDS Children and Orphans in sub-Saharan Africa.