The Crisis
It used to be said that in Africa, there was no such thing as an orphan. This was because in many African communities, children who had lost their parents were traditionally taken in by members of their extended families, most often an aunt or an uncle. Today, however, the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS on the adult population of Africa has resulted in large numbers of orphans and far fewer aunts and uncles to take them into care.

While many orphans in Africa are still taken in by their kin and other members of their community, an increasing number are slipping through this traditional safety net. For many of the children orphaned or affected by HIV/AIDS, the impact is severe.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the current epicenter of the HIV/AIDS crisis.

• With just over 10% of the world's population, sub-Saharan Africa is home to 95% of the world's AIDS orphans and 60% of all people infected by HIV.¹

Millions of children have been orphaned or affected by AIDS.

• In Africa, 12.3 million children have been orphaned by AIDS (losing their mother or both parents)—82% of the worldwide total. The number of AIDS orphans is expected to reach 25 million by 2010.²
  
• In sub-Saharan Africa, 1.9 million children under the age of 15 are living with HIV/AIDS—86% of the worldwide total.³
  
• In sub-Saharan Africa, up to 46% of pregnant women are infected with HIV, and approximately 35% of their children will be born infected because of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.¹
• AIDS is responsible for an increasing share of under-five mortality. In Africa, its share rose from 2% in 1990 to 6.5% in 2003.¹
  

Many more children will be orphaned by AIDS in the coming years.

• In sub-Saharan Africa, 25.8 million people are living with HIV/AIDS—60% of the worldwide total.¹ "Even if new HIV infections begin to level off, so many people are already living with HIV that the proportion of children likely to be orphaned will remain high until at least 2030 in high-prevalence countries."⁴
  
• So many people are becoming infected with HIV before the age of 24 and dying from AIDS before the age of 35, that they are "leaving behind a generation of children to be raised by grandparents or siblings."⁵

References

¹ UNAIDS/WHO AIDS Epidemic Update, UNAIDS/WHO, December 2005.

² Save the Children "Children in a World of AIDS" 2004.

³ UNAIDS "Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic" July 2004.

⁴ HIV/AIDS, Orphans and Vulnerable Children: Growing Up Alone, UNICEF.

⁵ Estimates, AIDS Epidemic Update, UNAIDS/WHO, December 2001; Fact Sheet: Orphans and children in a world of AIDS, United Nations Special Session on HIV/AIDS, June 2001.

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