Inter Press Service - October 31, 1999
Marwaan Macan-Markar

Stories like Miriam's, however, are not rare in Asia. A report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) earelier this year drew attention to the worrying signs of children under the age of 15 orphaned by AIDS in countries such as Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia.

"There are fears that, because of AIDS, Asia will see its orphan population triple by the year 2000," said the report, titled "Progress of Nations 1999." Last weekend, participants at the Fifth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP), were reminded again of this disturbing prospect.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed spoke on "increasing orphanhood" due to AIDS when he addressed the 3,000 delegates at the congress in Kuala Lumpur. Mahathir's plea to help such children was taken up recently by Frederico Mayor, the out-going director general of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural organisation.

"A massive international response is needed to help the 13 million children who will have lost one or both parents to AIDS by the year 2000," Mayor said and, he pointed out, orphaned girls were the most vulnerable.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) added its weight to the appeal amnd noted these children were desperately in need of emotional and economic support.

Not only do they have to go through the stress of seeing their parents fall ill and die but as family assets erode, the very prospect of their survival is undermined, UNAIDS said.

Often, such children were forced to leave school, move out of their homes to live with relatives, or were driven into economies that thrive on child labour, the agency said.

"It is critical for the rights of the children and young people orphaned by HIV/AIDS to be protected, such as their rights to attend mainstream schools, play on sports teams, and have access to support groups," UNAIDS said.

The agency underscored the need for emotional and economic support to be provided to families who take in orphans and for orphans who head households. One scenario that currently provides help came with the World AIDS Campaign, 1999 - "Listen, Learn, Live" promoted by UNAIDS, which recommends ways in which communities can rally round and help the children in their midst orphaned by AIDS.

The recommendations include:

- Building the capacity of orphans to support themselves, ensuring non-discrimination in their education, and supporting apprentice schemes with local artisans and employers.

- Promoting supportive forums in communities where orphans can gain support from each other.

- Developing a pen-pal exchange for the children in different cities and countries.

- Training community members to provide home-based care. The effort stems from UNAIDS research in 1997 which looked at what it meant a child to live in a world with AIDS.

That same year, researchers found 6.2 million children under 15 years of age had been orphaned by AIDS, nearly 95 percent of them in Africa south of the Sahara. In Uganda, for instance, there were 1.7 million orphans.

Some of the African children experienced "terrifying treatment," health workers discovered. They were abused by their relations and some were forced to do work meant for adults in return for accommodation and food.

In one instance, a boy, aged 13, was driven out of the house by his uncle, who had told him that his parents "had died of carelessness."

Often, shelters provided by Church groups have come to the rescue of the AIDS orphans. There, some of the boys have been schooled in technical work to become carpenters, builders and electricians.

Social workers discovered, however, that a better world for these orphans would only surface when governments in Africa moved their focus from awareness campaigns and called for "behaviour change."

According to Fred Mathengere, a programme officer for the United Nations Develpoment Programme (UNDP) in Malawi, such a shift would contribute significantly in providing care for AIDS orphans.

Malawi is one country, in fact, that has opted to pursue such a course. On

Friday it launched a new five-year programme to deal with the impact of AIDS. Those who have felt the pain of AIDS have "the right to protection against discrimination and stigmatisation," said Owen Kaluwa, head of the Strategic Planning Unit in Malawi's National AIDS Control Programme.

In addition to strengthening counseling and testing services, HIV prevention programmes, establishing a comprehensive advocacy programme and " increasing support to orphans," this strategy sought to promote legislation that would protect those who dealt with AIDS personally.

Not all African countries appeared to be prepared to pursue such a policy. In Sudan, for instance, the hardline Islamic regime has been slow to respond to the new demographic feature taking shape in Khartoum, the increasing number of children orphaned by AIDS.

Health workers blamed the country's Islamic fundamentalists for perpetuating such a culture of silence. Religious leaders have forbidden the open discussion of AIDS, which has affected more than 500,000 of Khartoum's 8 million population.

This action has exacerbated the trauma of orphaned children still in shock over their parents' deaths, the health workers said. Children were shy to tell their stories and were ridiculed by their peers for being the progeny of AIDS victims.

For UNAIDS, such conditions were unacceptable. "National and local leaders must take the lead in countering the fear and silence that allow such stigma and discrimination to cause violence and pain, and pave the way towards acceptance," it said (END/IPS/mmm/mk/99)
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