IMPACT OF PARENTAL HIV/AIDS DEATHS ON AFRICAN CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Honors Project 2007. Lindsay Stortz.

Why This?

My Friend Nora

George, a nurse in Cameroon

Dire and Growing Need

My experiences livingin the slums of Nairobi,Kenya and starting my AIDS organization.

Evidential foundationfor hospice program inCameron being startedby nurse NdikintumGeorge

UNAIDS, 2004

Sub-Saharan Africa & Cameroon

Orphans account for15% of all children inEleven nations. 20 million children

orphaned by 2010 Cameroon has an HIVPrevalence of 5-9%

Questions

When an African child loses her parents, what happens to the child and to the family?

How do the economic difficulties that these children face impact their ability to grieve the loss of their parent?

What is being done to helpThese children? What more should be done?

Method

Impact to the child and family Used search term “AIDS orphans” Read and analyzed all of the research.

Impact on the child’s grief Used search term “childhood bereavement” Read and analyzed all of the research. Included research on African culture and

how it may impact the grief response of the child.

Social Impact

90% of orphaned are cared for in extended families

May be abandoned by extended family May be maltreated May face stigma inwider society

Economic impact

Adoptive households more likely to be poor.

Caregiver likely to be elderly, female, HIV positive, which are risk factors for extreme poverty

Unable to afford school fees Child Labor, sex work More likely to be

malnourished

Childhood Grief Response

Sad Angry Guilty May start acting

younger than they are Will maintain a bond

with deceased parent through memory and being “watched over”

Interferes with Life

Symptoms of PTSD

Overwhelming guilt

Suicidal thoughts Blames self for

death

Normal Complicated

The Tasks of Childhood Grief

Understand the death Have their fears and anxieties addressed Reassurance they are not to blame Listened to and understood Feelings validated. Process their emotions of sadness, guilt,

anger, etc.

Conclusion

Socioeconomic problems put children at greater psychological risk

Maltreatment puts children at greater psychological risk

Combination of these factors, plus the grief thechild is facing can lead to behavioral and emotional problems during childhood and into adulthood

Interventions

Criteria: culturally appropriate, affordable, family-based

Socioeconomic Capacity Building Counselors & Psycho-education Memory Boxes Succession Planning Support Groups

Limitations of The Research

Africa is a very big and very diverse place! In Cameroon, 200 different Languages are spoken! English only Lack of available research on:

grief of African children Interventions in Africa Double Orphans

Want to get involved??

World Vision: www.worldvision.org Fahari Ministries: Kenya AIDS alliance of Durham: www.aas-

c.org DATA-Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa:

data.org For more information visit

www.unaids.org and KnowHivAids.org

Acknowledgements

Eric Stortz, my wonderful husband, for his patience and for helping me get through it!

Dr. Miles, my honors advisor, for all of her advice and encouragement

George of Cameroon for hisCommitment and hisHelp in teaching meAbout Cameroon,

his nation.