HIV/AIDS Epidemic Creating ‘Generation of Orphans’ in African Nations
Knight Ridder News/Fort Worth Star-Telegram today reports on how Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic has created a "generation of orphans" across the continent. Most Africans who die of AIDS-related causes are between the ages of 15 and 49, and many leave behind children. Children who have lost one or both parents to the disease must often raise their siblings or go to work to support themselves and their families. In addition, the loss of a parent means that many children are not learning the skills and traditions passed down through their families. Aid workers and government officials are trying to reconstruct the traditional systems in villages and families through a variety of efforts; such programs include subsidies for women who become foster mothers or projects that organize rural communities to care for orphans in villages (Raghavan, Knight Ridder/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 11/25).
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