Children on the Brink 2002: A Joint Report on Orphan Estimates and Program Strategies

- from the Introduction
"Children on the Brink 2002 contains statistics on children orphaned by HIV/AIDS from 88 countries, analysis of the trends found in those statistics, and strategies and principles for helping the children. The third in a series (earlier editions were published in 1997 and 2000), this document covers 1990 to 2010 and provides the broadest and most comprehensive statistics yet on the historical, current, and projected number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS...

Estimates of orphans from all causes are included to give a more realistic picture of the scale at which responses must be developed. By 2010, an estimated 106 million children are projected to lose one or both parents, with 25 million of this group orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. The report also stresses that the growing needs of other children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS must be met. This report hopes to convey a few critical points that can help develop well-coordinated and compassionate responses from families, communities, governments and others. They are:

• HIV/AIDS has created an orphan crisis. This unprecedented orphan crisis will require radically scaled-up national, regional, and community responses for at least two decades - especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where children have been hardest hit.
• Orphans due to other causes also demand attention. Increases in the number of orphans due to AIDS should be considered as part of a much larger problem of orphaning due to all causes. In 12 African countries, projections show that orphans will comprise at least 15% of all children under 15 years of age by 2010.
• Other children are also vulnerable. The safety, health, and survival of all children in affected countries are increasingly jeopardized due to the effects of AIDS on families and communities. Increasing numbers of children are living with sick or dying parents or in households that have taken in orphans. Moreover, the pandemic is deepening poverty in entire communities, with children usually the first to suffer from the deprivation.
• AIDS threatens children's lives. The impacts of AIDS on children are both complex and multifaceted. Children suffer psychosocial distress and increasing material hardship due to AIDS. They may be pressed into service to care for ill and dying parents, required to drop out of school to help with farm or household work, or experience declining access to food and health services. Many are at risk of exclusion, abuse, discrimination, and stigma.
• Communities with a high proportion of orphans require urgent assistance. Responses need to be focused and scaled up in communities with high proportions of orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS. Because they are at the center of the crisis, these communities are the most overstretched.
• Collaboration is key. The estimates on orphans due to AIDS presented here are the result of the first unified effort to provide a consistent set of numbers. This effort demonstrates the importance of strengthened collaboration and provides a springboard for expanded responses. No one can tackle this crisis alone..."

Included in this report are details of the following strategies to assist children:

1. Strengthen and support the capacity of families to protect and care for their children.
2. Mobilise and strengthen community-based responses.
3. Strengthen the capacity of children and young people to meet their own needs.
4. Ensure that governments develop appropriate policies, including legal and programmatic frameworks, as well as essential services for the most vulnerable children.
5. Raise awareness within societies to create an environment that enables support for children affected by HIV/AIDS.