New Efforts to Help AIDS Orphans, Vulnerable Children
By Henry Neondo
A partnership that involves private organizations and the United States Presidents’ Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has launched a technical assistance programme to help children in Haiti, Kenya, South Africa and Rwanda cope with impacts of HIV and AIDS.
This technical assistance comes in the form of skills-building workshops on targeting Household Economic Strengthening (HES) activities to vulnerable populations, and in-country assessments and recommendations for USAID Missions.
The partnership, involving the Cardno Emerging Markets USA Ltd. (Cardno), in collaboration with PEPFAR’s Orphans and Vulnerable Children Technical Working Group (OVC TWG) and through USAID’s AIDS Support and Technical Resources (AIDSTAR-Two) project, is currently providing technical assistance to USAID health officers and PEPFAR OVC focal points in Kenya, South Africa, and Rwanda.
A three-day workshop held earlier this year in Nairobi equipped participants with skills to better articulate HES objectives, apply HES approaches in a manner consistent with good practice, identify high-potential HES interventions and troubleshoot underperforming HES activities, such as group savings and lending, small business development and other income-generating activities.
Such activities have shown potential as a cost-effective intervention that benefits children and caregivers affected and infected by HIV and AIDS.
Additional activities in Kenya, as well as the South Africa and Rwanda portions of the activity are planned.
It has, however, been acknowledged that programme managers and implementing partners need support designing, managing and evaluating these types of cross-sectoral activities.
The programme is born out of the fact that HIV and AIDS predominantly affect people of childbearing age with devastating impact on children.
A child is three times more likely to die, even though he or she is HIV negative, if one of his or her parents dies of AIDS.
These children face stigmatization and often suffer from malnutrition, lack of health care and lack of access to education.
By the end of 2010, the number of children orphaned by HIV and AIDS is projected to exceed 25 million, and the number of vulnerable children will greatly surpass that number.