Managing Uganda"s orphans crisis

Although no solid statistics exist, the number of orphans (defined as children under 18 who have lost one or both parents) is estimated at between 400,000 and 1.1 million. AIDS orphans number about 115,000 and are expected to increase fivefold in the next five years. This report provides an overview of the orphan situation and describes initiatives taken by individuals, government, international agencies, and nongovernmental organizations. At this stage, most of the orphans are being cared for by grandparents and other relations. Only 1% are institutionalized. However, as the AIDS pandemic reduces the numbers of income-producing parents and other relatives and the current group of grandparents becomes progressively incapacitated by age, pressure on the traditional system will become more intense. The major need that extended families caring for orphans express is not for food or shelter, but for cash to pay school fees, and buy uniforms and other supplies. The report recommends that the Ugandan government resist institutionalizing children and instead work with nongovernment organizations to strengthen the capacities of the extended families and communities to cope with the crisis. This should be accomplished with a package of economic and social interventions, such as feeder roads and other infrastructure projects in orphan-affected areas; local works projects to provide cash wages to villagers; and vocational training.