The orphan problem: Experience of a sub-Saharan Africa rural population in the AIDS epidemic

Abstract

An assessment of the prevalence of orphans and the magnitude of their problems and the extent to which HIV-1 is contributing to this was done in a rural population in South-West Uganda with an HIV-1 seroprevalence of 8% among adults. Slightly over 10% of children aged less than 15 years were reported to have lost one or both parents. Loss of the father alone (6.3%) was more common than loss of the mother alone (2.8%). Generally orphans were living with their surviving parent or other relatives but it was also noted in this study that some children with both parents alive lived with relatives as part of the extended family system. HIV-1 seroprevalence rates were higher among orphans than among non-orphans and were up to 6 times higher in the 0-4 year age group. Seropositivity rates were also higher among surviving parents of orphans than among parents of non-orphans. No significant difference in mortality between orphans and non-orphans was observed. During a 3-year follow-up period a total of 169 children became orphans and 43% of these cases resulted from the death of an HIV-1 positive parent. There was a limited effect on school attendance by orphanhood. The HIV-1 epidemic has substantially increased the number of orphans in this community, a finding which is probably typical of many other sub-Saharan African countries. It appears that these orphans were generally well looked after within the community. This coping capacity may, however become overstretched if the epidemic evolves further.

Childhood Adversity, Recent Life Stressors and Suicidal Behavior in Chinese College Students

“…Previous research shows that the loss of a parent can lead to a series of developmental disadvantages resulting in poor education [3][4][5][6][7], such as lags in grade for age and school attendance relative to non-orphans [3,7,8]. In contrast, other studies find little negative impact of parental death on child education [9][10][11] and instead find that alternative factors such as wealth, age, or the child's relationship to the head of household are better predictors of education outcomes [12]. Importantly, many of these studies are restricted to single country analyses, rendering results arguably context specific.…”

“…The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a behavioral screening tool, designed for children ages [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], that measures psychosocial well-being across five dimensions: (1) emotional symptoms, (2) conduct problems, (3) hyperactivity/inattention, (4) peer relationship problems, and (5) prosocial behavior. Each subscale has 5 items, scored on a 3-point Likert scale (0-2).…”

Assessing the health status of young AIDS and other orphans in Kampala, Uganda

“…Orphaned children are especially vulnerable and thus potentially at an increased risk of poor health and nutrition (Ayieko 1997). However, no significant differences in morbidity and mortality have been shown in the few studies on this subject, and there are conflicting data on the associations between nutrition and orphan status (Ryder et al 1994;Kamali et al 1996;Panpanich et al 1999;Lindblade et al 2003).…”

A Systematic Review of the Relationship Between Family Structure and Health Risk Behaviours Amongst Young People: An African Perspective

“…All of this has been compounded by the effects of HIV/AIDS that has affected entire family units consisting of women, children and the extended family [29]. HIV/AIDS has contributed to the change of family structures and function with the main consequence of HIV/AIDS yielding an increase in the number of orphans and thus child-headed homes [30]. These families often live below the family threshold and the well-being of these families is thus threatened [33][34][35].…”

“…In addition, this phenomenon has also led to an increase in grandparents rearing their grandchildren to allow mothers to be breadwinners [23][24][25]. For example, multi-generational co-residence has been a culturally entrenched norm historically for nine-tenths of South African society [26,27] and co-residence with family remains a norm and a widely preferred option for the majority of the South African population [28][29][30]. Thus the concept of multi-generational households is increased and reinforced.…”