World AIDS Day 2005

Information resource for teachers:

How are children affected by HIV/AIDS in the areas where Link Community Development works?

HIV/AIDS severely weakens those who suffer from it, and generally leads to very early death. The majority of new HIV infections are happening among people aged below 25 years old.

In 2004 there were nearly 3 million AIDS deaths. A third of them were children and teenagers.

It is estimated that 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

There are children who begin their lives infected. Four million children worldwide have contracted HIV since the epidemic began. Most of them have been infected during pregnancy, labour, birth or breastfeeding.

HIV/AIDS has an enormous effect on children's rights in a number of ways. Most directly it threatens their very survival and physical development, but it has many less direct effects:

Children's own experience of childhood ends very early. They are often required to become heads of households and look for work. They drop out of school, help look after younger brothers or sisters, or care for sick older relatives. There are fewer resources in the family, and less food, This affects the nutrition of children who are still growing and developing. Families who have to pay school fees will find it harder to do so with less income. Some children will be unable to remain in school. Their schools are also affected. In sub-Saharan Africa, 850,000 children have lost teachers to AIDS.

When they lose parents to HIV/AIDS, children lose the affection, security and protection their parents had given them and they often suffer emotionally from rejection, fear, loneliness and depression. They are sad for those they have lost and fearful about their own futures.

Children who become poorer and suffer rejection are at increased risk of being abused and exploited later.

Children who have been infected are sometimes treated badly by people who should be giving them help. They are sometimes stigmatised and discriminated against in health care, education, and welfare within their own communities.

About half the adults who are HIV-Positive currently develop AIDS in their early 30s, and die before they are 35. They leave children to be raised by poor grandparents or other relatives. Some of these children end up as street children - joining or heading their own groups on the streets and rubbish dumps, where they are at high risk of illness, abuse and exploitation.

The effects of HIV/AIDS on children have also increased because of the many military conflicts on the African continent. When there are wars, hospitals and schools are often targets, and as local health and education systems break down it can be hard for children to get knowledge about HIV/AIDS or appropriate treatment.

How are African communities responding?

In Uganda AIDS was first detected in the early 1980s. Uganda started its first AIDS Control Programme in 1986 through the Ministry of Health. At first it was seen purely as a health problem. But within a few years a National Task Force on AIDS was formed to manage the epidemic and respond to its many consequences.

As a result many governmental departments became involved. Through a public information campaign, all members of society were persuaded that it was their responsibility to be involved in the fight against AIDS. Pop songs spreading anti-AIDS messages were encouraged and radio and advertising billboards were used to repeat the messages. Travelling theatre companies take the message to outlying districts. They perform anti-AIDS dramas on the backs of lorries.

The government led a campaign with community organisations on "Living Positively with HIV/AIDS". This challenged those who denied the existence or the significance of the disease. Also it ended the stigma of those who acknowledged they had the disease. AIDS infection rates in Uganda have declined considerably.

So far the disease has been less prevalent in West Africa but it is a growing threat. In Ghana, the infection rate is around 4%, but almost double that in its eastern districts. The Ghanaian government formed an AIDS commission in 2000, which encouraged a number of sustained educational initiatives. Campaigns such as "Reach Out, Show Compassion" have provided support for those infected. These have been supported by a range of government ministries and have attracted donor support through USAID. The rate of infection in Ghana is currently lower than its neighbouring countries such as Togo and Cote d'Ivoire.

In urban centres there are various campaigns targeting young people such as "Stop AIDS, Love Life" in Ghana which sends its messages through radio, TV and music videos. Soul City is a multi-media health and AIDS awareness campaign operating in South Africa and other countries, which also utilises TV and radio. Soul City has benefited from donor aid from Holland and Britain.

In South Africa anti-AIDS activity originally involved the Government's Department of Health, but with the creation of the Partnership Against AIDS in 1998 and the National AIDS Council in 2000, other areas of government and community organisations have become much more actively involved. A lot of resources have been put into a "Life Skills and HIV/AIDS Education Programme".

Tivoneleni Varasati Aids Awareness Project uses traditional forms of drama and storytelling to spread an anti-AIDS message to schoolchildren, in market places and at tribal gatherings in South Africa.

In 2003 Link Community Development worked with Health Development Africa to produce an HIV/AIDS education manual for the National Department of Education, which looks set to become the standard for all schools in South Africa. The manual assists everyone to translate policy into action from education department level down to the village school. Link Community Development trains and supports schools in producing and implementing HIV/AIDS action plans. For example, Vaalharts Combined School's initiatives include preparing HIV/AIDS lesson plans for each year group, holding talks for parents and the wider community, protecting infected staff and learners from discrimination, and setting up extra classes for learners who have missed work due to teachers' sick leave.

This information section is based on the text of a resource pack on Children's Rights in Africa that will be available at a later date on the Link Community Development website