Children affected by AIDS

Children affected by AIDS

Because every child today is growing up in a world where AIDS is a devastating reality, some people say that every child is affected by the epidemic, whether they are infected or not. Other talk specifically about children who have been orphaned by AIDS, or those who are HIV-positive. Regardless of how people look at the situation, it is clear that there are many ways in which a child can be affected by HIV, and that it is not only those who are infected that are suffering as a result of the epidemic.

HIV can damage a child’s life in three main ways: through its effects directly on the child, on that child’s family, and on the community that the child is growing up in.

The direct effects of HIV on children

• Many children are themselves infected with HIV

The effects of HIV on a child’s family

• Children live with family members who are infected with HIV.
• Children act as carers for sick parents who have AIDS.
• Many children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and are orphaned.
• An increasing number of households are headed by children, as AIDS erodes traditional community support systems.
• Children end up being their family’s principal wage earners, as AIDS prevents adults from working, and creates expensive medical bills.

The effects of HIV on a child’s community

• As AIDS ravages a community, schools lose teachers and children are unable to access education.
• Doctors and nurses die, and children find it difficult to gain care for childhood diseases.
• Children may lose their friends to AIDS.
• Children who have HIV in their family may be stigmatized and affected by discrimination.