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HIV/AIDS and Food Insecurity in Southern Africa - December 2002
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4. Children: a particularly vulnerable group within this crisis
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The Southern African humanitarian crisis has enormous implications for children, since 60 per cent of the region's population is under age 18. Children become particularly vulnerable to the impacts of HIV. When times are difficult, children have to help out by searching for wild foods or by working to boost household earnings in order to buy more food - if it is available. Households affected by HIV/AIDS also have greater health care costs and therefore less money for food or education. As a result children's education suffers because of missed schooling; they may even be withdrawn from school altogether. In Zimbabwe, 18 per cent of households have removed one or more children from school as a coping mechanism in response to the lack of food.3
The long-term consequences of malnutrition are profound. Poor nutrition of pregnant women will affect the brain, body growth, and development of the baby. Under-nourished children fall repeatedly ill as their immune systems never get the full complement of micronutrients they need. If chronic malnutrition continues throughout the lifecycle, stunting can result. In the central region of Malawi, 56 per cent of children under five are stunted: the majority will never reach their full physical or mental potential.4
HIV/AIDS is exacerbating children's problems in the current crisis. The number of orphans is increasing dramatically: there are already 3.2 million AIDS orphans in the region, and the number of street children in urban areas is increasing visibly. In 2010, in all affected countries except Angola, between one-fifth and one-quarter of all children under 15 years will have lost their mother or both parents to AIDS.5
Children who lose their parents often lose their rights to property and land. Reduced access to formal education and to social or agricultural education also affects their longer-term chances for economic survival, reducing the opportunities to learn from their elders about how to grow food, for example. Those who migrate for work or to find food are often at increased risk of HIV infection.
Children are also at greater risk of being exploited - both physically and sexually - of being separated from their families, or having to work in hazardous conditions. Many children also lose their homes and have to live on the streets where they are likely to face various forms of violence, especially when they get into trouble with the law.
Footnotes:
- Zimbabwe National Vulnerability Assessment Committee (2002) Zimbabwe Emergency Food Security Assessment Report. 16 September 2002.
- SADC VAC Malawi Emergency Food Security Assessment Report (16 September 2002)
- Children on the Brink (July 2002) This report was released at the XIV International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain and was published jointly by USAID, UNAIDS and UNICEF, with estimates developed by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
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