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How Does AIDS Affect Kids in Africa?

High prevalence rates and poor access to treatment make HIV/AIDS a severe health and social crisis in many parts of Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa. Children are affected not only by contracting the disease but also by having HIV-positive parents who may not be able to care for them.

  1. Orphaned Children

    • Children are frequently orphaned when their parents die of HIV-disease. In the most severely affected part of Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, 11 million children have been orphaned as a result of the epidemic.

    Transmission

    • Most HIV-positive African (and other) children contract the virus from their mothers during pregnancy, childbirth or through breastfeeding; in many places in Africa, there is a lack of access to safe alternative feeding options and medicines that would decrease the rate of mother-to-child transmission.

    Infected Children

    • Approximately 90 percent of the HIV-positive children in the world live in sub-Saharan Africa; the number of infected children is about 1.8 million.

    School

    • Rising costs in families due to caring for those with HIV often lead to children, most often girls, being withdrawn from school in order to avoid school-related costs.

    Work

    • Many African children are forced to work in order to help their families bring in money to get their basic needs as well as to cover HIV/AIDS-related costs.

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