Responding to the needs of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS

These include the loss of their families, depression, increased malnutrition, lack of immunizations or health care, increased demands for labor, lack of schooling, loss of inheritance, forced migration, homelessness, vagrancy, starvation, crime, and increased exposure to HIV infection. Given the scale of the problems, the first line of response from the affected children, families, and communities will be insufficient. Recent experience suggests that five basic interventions strategies can help maximize the impact of local, community-based responses: strengthening the capacity of families to cope with their problems; stimulating and strengthening community-based responses; ensuring that governments protect the most vulnerable children; building the capacities of children to support themselves; and creating an enabling environment for the development of appropriate responses. (Author abstract)