While South Africa’s HIV infection rate may have stabilized, experts warn that the country’s slow AIDS response has triggered a time bomb that may leave one in three children orphaned.
“Estimates show that by 2015, some 5.7 million, or 32 percent of all children in South Africa, would have lost one or both parents due to HIV/AIDS,” said Gail Eddy, a researcher at the Institute of Race Relations.
Last year there were 1.5 million AIDS orphans, figures from the country’s health department showed.
She said as the epidemic continues to shorten the lives of parents, more children were going to be orphaned and the number of child-headed households would also increase.
The government currently provides support to about 238,000 AIDS orphans and to more than 20,000 homes where older children care for younger siblings after their parents died from the virus.
Eddy said orphans needed additional support that was not necessarily monetary in nature.
“What exacerbates the lack of support for these children is that South Africa has a shortage of social workers who are responsible for identifying vulnerable children and providing them with the necessary support,” she said.
Nearly 495,000 AIDS orphans are in foster care, but the government is encouraging more adoptions so orphans can have permanent families. Only a tiny fraction of the AIDS orphans, about 1,900, however, were adopted by South Africans last year.
“If the status quo is maintained, South Africa will be faced with a major crisis in the future, due to the social and economic consequences of increasing numbers of orphans and child-headed households,” Eddy said.
Activists and the current government lay the blame for the rapid spread of the disease squarely on former president Thabo Mbeki’s policies, as he delayed the roll out of ARVs, questioning the link between HIV and AIDS. His infamous former health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, promoted the use of lemon juice, garlic and beetroot above ARVs, which she said were toxic.
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