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- CHILDHOPE-ZAMBIA'S
Online Resources
- Online resources on CHILDHOPE-ZAMBIA, on orphaned children
in general, the state of orphans worldwide and the fight
against the major orphanage root causes - poverty, disease,
HIV/AIDS, war, and famine. Your charitable donations sponsor
orphans, vulnerable and disabled children including the
low vision and blind children at CHILDHOPE-ZAMBIA. Volunteers
are most welcome with their donation of time and skills.
CHILDHOPE currently supports 3,600 in Mazabuka, Monze and
Choma districts of Southern Province of Zambia. Most children
are AIDS orphans/ victims that lost their parent(s) from
the AIDS epidemic. Our mission is to serve all their essential
needs in a parental capacity. We’re a growing global
family to the children and humbly invite you to join us
in this labor of love for the children in the rural areas
who do not have the basic necessities to thrive.
- Worldwide Orphaned children Statistics
Worldwide Orphan Facts, Figures and Statistics
Sub-Saharan Africa Orphan Statistics
• The total number of orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa
is greater than the total number of children in Denmark,
Ireland, Norway, Canada and Sweden.
• There are currently an estimated 53.1 million orphans
in Sub-Saharan Africa. Of those children, 30% lost parents
to the AIDS epidemic.
• An estimated 12% of all children in Sub-Saharan
Africa are orphans. Of those children, 5.7 million were
orphaned in 2010 alone.
• There are 28.5 million estimated maternal orphans
in Sub-Saharan Africa. Over 14,000 of them are being raised
in one of the 126 SOS Children’s Villages in the region.
• At least 600,000 people are supported through other
SOS facilities, including SOS schools and Family Strengthening
Programs.
Asia Orphan Statistics
• There are currently 68.9 million orphans in Asia,
giving this region the largest absolute number of orphans
in the world.
• Roughly 6% of all children in Asia are orphans,
with 7.7 million orphaned in 2010 alone.
• In Cambodia, Laos and Korea the prevalence is even
higher where 10% of all children are orphans.
• There are 20.3 million maternal orphans in Asia.
SOS Children’s Villages cares for 27,000 of them in
149 SOS Children’s Villages in the region.
• India alone has 31 SOS Children’s Villages
throughout the country, making it the country with the largest
amount of SOS Children’s Villages in the world.
Latin America Orphan Statistics
• Roughly 5% of all children in Latin America are
orphans (10.2 million in total), with 1.2 million orphaned
in 2010 alone.
• Even before the tragic earthquake in Haiti, over
15% of children were estimated to be orphans, more than
twice the regional average.
• There are 2.5 million maternal orphans in Latin
America, SOS Children’s Villages cares for 13,000
of them in 126 SOS Children’s Villages in the region.
• Many of these SOS children are former street children,
orphaned or abandoned as a result of poverty, conflict,
or natural disaster.
• SOS Children's Villages renders immediate assistance
in the face of conflict or natural disaster with emergency
relief programs, which are often converted into permanent
facilities
Foster Care in the United States
Approximately 25,000 children age out of the foster care
system every year at age 18.
• 25% of these foster children will become homeless
• 56% of these emancipated foster care children enter
the unemployment ranks
• 27% of the emancipated male children in foster care
end up in jail
• 30% of the emancipated females in foster care experience
early parenthood
Orphan Statistics
Every 15 SECONDS, another child becomes an AIDS orphan in
Africa1
Every DAY 5,760 more children become orphans
Every YEAR 2,102,400 more children become orphans (in Africa
alone)
143,000, 000 Orphans in the world today spend an average
of 10 years3 in an orphanage or foster home
Approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually, but…
Every YEAR 14,050,000 children still grow up as orphans
and AGE OUT4 of the system
Every DAY 38,493 children AGE OUT
Every 2.2 SECONDS, another orphan child AGES OUT with no
family to belong to and no place to call home
In Ukraine and Russia 10% -15% of children who are out of
an orphanage commit suicide before age 18.
60% of the girls are lured into prostitution. 70% of the
boys become hardened criminals.
Many of these children accept job offers that ultimately
result in their being sold as slaves. Millions of girls
are sex slaves today, simply because they were unfortunate
enough to grow up as orphans. Reliable statistics are difficult
to find, even the sources often list only estimates, and
street children are rarely included. But even if these figures
are exaggerated by double, it is still an unacceptable tragedy
that over a Million children would still become orphans
every year, and every year 7 Million children would still
grow to adulthood as orphans with no one to belong to and
no place to call home.
Courtesy of the Home for Good Foundation www.hfgf.org
- Who is an orphan?
UNICEF and global partners define an orphan as a child who
has lost one or both parents. By this definition there were
over 132 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin
America and the Caribbean in 2005. This large figure represents
not only children who lost both parents, but also those
who lost a father but have a surviving mother or lost their
mother but have a surviving father. Of the more than 132
million children classified as orphans that year, 13 million
lost both parents. Evidence clearly shows that the vast
majority of orphans are living with a surviving parent grandparent,
or other family member. 95 per cent of all orphans are over
the age of five. This definition contrasts with concepts
of orphan in many industrialized countries, where a child
must have lost both parents to qualify as an orphan. UNICEF
and numerous international organizations adopted the broader
definition of orphan in the mid-1990s as the AIDS pandemic
began leading to the death of millions of parents worldwide,
leaving an ever increasing number of children growing up
without one or more parents. So the terminology of a ‘single
orphan’–the loss of one parent–and a ‘double
orphan’–the loss of both parents–was born
to convey this growing crisis. However, this difference
in terminology can have concrete implications for policies
and programming for children. For example, UNICEF’s
‘orphan’ statistic might be interpreted to mean
that globally there are 163 million children in need of
a new family, shelter, or care. This misunderstanding may
then lead to responses that focus on providing care for
individual children rather than supporting the families
and communities that care for orphans and are in need of
support.
In keeping with this and the agency’s commitment to
adapt to the evolving realities of the AIDS crisis, UNICEF
commissioned an analysis of population household surveys
across 36 countries. Designed to compare current conditions
of orphans and non-orphans, the global analysis suggests
we should further expand our scope, focusing less on the
concept of orphan hood and more on a range of factors that
render children vulnerable. These factors include the family's
ownership of property, the poverty level of the household,
the child’s relationship to the head of the household,
and the education level of the child’s parents, if
they are living. In UNICEF’s experience, these are
the elements that can help identify both children and their
families–whether this term includes living parents,
grandparents or other relatives–who have the greatest
need for our support.
UNICEF's position on Inter-country adoption
Since the 1960s, there has been an increase in the number
of inter-country adoptions. Concurrent with this trend,
there have been growing international efforts to ensure
that adoptions are carried out in a transparent, non-exploitative,
legal manner to the benefit of the children and families
concerned. In some cases, however, adoptions have not been
carried out in ways that served the best interest of the
children -- when the requirements and procedures in place
were insufficient to prevent unethical practices. Systemic
weaknesses persist and enable the sale and abduction of
children, coercion or manipulation of birth parents, falsification
of documents and bribery. The Convention on the Rights of
the Child, which guides UNICEF’s work, clearly states
that every child has the right to grow up in a family environment,
to know and be cared for by her or his own family, whenever
possible. Recognizing this, and the value and importance
of families in children’s lives, families needing
assistance to care for their children have a right to receive
it.
When, despite this assistance, a child’s family is
unavailable, unable or unwilling to care for her/him, then
appropriate and stable family-based solutions should be
sought to enable the child to grow up in a loving, caring
and supportive environment.
Inter-country adoption is among the range of stable care
options. For individual children who cannot be cared for
in a family setting in their country of origin, inter-country
adoption may be the best permanent solution. UNICEF supports
inter-country adoption, when pursued in conformity with
the standards and principles of the 1993 Hague Convention
on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of
Inter-country Adoptions – already ratified by more
than 80 countries. This Convention is an important development
for children, birth families and prospective foreign adopters.
It sets out obligations for the authorities of countries
from which children leave for adoption, and those that are
receiving these children. The Convention is designed to
ensure ethical and transparent processes. This international
legislation gives paramount consideration to the best interests
of the child and provides the framework for the practical
application of the principles regarding inter-country adoption
contained in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
These include ensuring that adoptions are authorized only
by competent authorities, guided by informed consent of
all concerned, that inter-country adoption enjoys the same
safeguards and standards which apply in national adoptions,
and that inter-country adoption does not result in improper
financial gain for those involved in it. These provisions
are meant first and foremost to protect children, but also
have the positive effect of safeguarding the rights of their
birth parents and providing assurance to prospective adoptive
parents that their child has not been the subject of illegal
practices. The case of children separated from their families
and communities during war or natural disasters merits special
mention. Family tracing should be the first priority and
inter-country adoption should only be envisaged for a child
once these tracing efforts have proved fruitless, and stable
in-country solutions are not available.
This position is shared by UNICEF, UNHCR, the UN Committee
on the Rights of the Child, the Hague Conference on Private
International Law, the International Committee of the Red
Cross, and international NGOs such as the Save the Children
Alliance and International Social Service. UNICEF offices
around the world support the strengthening of child protection
systems. We work with governments, UN partners and civil
society to protect vulnerable families, to ensure that robust
legal and policy frameworks are in place and to build capacity
of the social welfare, justice and law enforcement sectors.
Most importantly, UNICEF focuses on preventing the underlying
causes of child abuse, exploitation and violence.
New York
22 July 2010
Consequences of AIDS
A. Consequences on orphan Children
There are now 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS in
the world, out of whom 29.4 million are living in Africa.
The highest levels of HIV/AIDS are found in southern Africa,
with prevalence rates exceeding 30 percent among the adult
population in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe
(UNAIDS/WHO, 2002). There is an increase in the number of
children in sub-Saharan countries who are affected by HIV/AIDS.
Among the more than 34 million orphaned children in Africa,
11 million became orphans as a result of AIDS. From 1990
to 2010, the number of orphans in sub-Saharan Africa who
have lost both parents will triple because of AIDS (UNAIDS/UNICEF/USAID,
2002).
It is estimated that, by 2010, 5.8 percent of all children
in the region will have been orphaned by AIDS. In the most
affected 12 African countries, orphans in general will represent
at least 15 percent of all children fewer than 15 years
of age by 2015. Figure 1 summarizes the increase in number
of AIDS and non-AIDS orphans. When defining the vulnerability
of a child, assessing if one or both parents are alive is
not adequate. In many parts of Africa it is common that
children are fostered by relatives and do not live with
their biological parents, even when the parents are alive.
If children are living with other relatives and one or both
of these relatives die, this will also have a large effect
on the lives of the children (Foster and Williamson, 2000).
Orphans can be grouped as maternal orphans, paternal orphans
and double orphans. Children may also have an ill parent
or an ill foster parent. Some children have lost both their
parents and their foster parents. Vulnerability of children
increases long before the death of a parent or guardian.
Children watch the parent deteriorate and eventually die.
They often face loss of family and identity, increased malnutrition
and reduced opportunity for education. Without adequate
care and support, many are exposed to exploitative child
labour and abuse and face increased vulnerability to HIV
infection.
When a mother dies, the level of care is reduced dramatically,
and the children become more susceptible to illness. It
should be recognized that figures on the number of orphans
in Africa show only a part of all of the children who do
not receive adequate parental care. Lack of proper care
for orphans is further exacerbated by the fact that many
of the adults in the extended family who care for orphans
are also HIV-positive or living with AIDS. The disease increases
poverty in families as time and money are spent to care
for an escalating number of sick relatives and for treatment
in cases in which people develop AIDS-related infections.
The evidence regarding care for orphans shows that resources
and caring capacity of mothers, fathers and relatives vary.
A study in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe (SADC/FANR, 2003)
showed that on average 20 percent of households are caring
for one or more orphans. More often it is female-headed
households rather than male-headed households that care
for orphans.
In Malawi, almost 40 percent of female-headed households
care for orphans. In these three countries, less than 1
percent of all households are headed by children. In areas
where AIDS has weakened the extended family system and other
relatives such as uncles and aunts are chronically ill or
have died, it seems that grandparents are increasingly charged
with the task of caring for orphans (Foster and Williamson,
2000). In Zambia, 40 percent of households headed by an
older person were caring for an orphan, while 28 percent
of households headed by a younger adult were caring for
such children. In a study in Uganda, 40 percent of the adults
who were looking after orphans were HIV-positive parents
themselves (Gilborn et al., 2001).
Impact of becoming an orphan
A wide variety of problems can affect orphans, including
increased food insecurity, stigma and discrimination, reduced
access to education and economic opportunities, and sexual
abuse and exploitation (Desmond, Michael and Grow, 2000;
Donahue, 1998; Gilborn et al., 2001).
Education
When a parent becomes ill, the education of a child is disrupted.
A study of data collected in Uganda (Gilborn et al., 2001)
shows that 26 percent of children reported a decline in
school attendance and 25 percent reported a decline in school
performance when parents became ill. According to the children
of this study, parental illness detracts from school attendance
because children stay home to care for sick parents. They
have increased household responsibilities and need to care
for younger children. They suffer emotional distress that
interferes with school, and they have less money for school
expenses. In another study of children in Uganda (Sengendo
and Nambi, 1997), it was found that among children 15–19
years of age whose parents had died, only 29 percent had
continued schooling undisrupted; 25 percent had lost school
time, and 45 percent had dropped out of school. The school-age
children with the greatest chance of continuing their education
were those who lived with a surviving parent; children fostered
by grandparents had the least chance. - Food security
The 2002 humanitarian crisis in southern Africa was the
first large-scale manifestation of the combined impact of
HIV/AIDS and food insecurity caused by severe drought. The
following associations between HIV/AIDS and food security
were found (SADC/FANR 2003):
• households without active adults earned 31 percent
less income than households with active adults; households
with two chronically ill adults had 66 percent less income
than households without chronically ill adults;
• households in Zambia in which the head of household
is chronically ill planted 53 percent less than households
without a chronically ill head of household; in Zambia,
households with a chronically ill adult were 21 percent
more food insecure than those without a chronically ill
adult.
HIV/AIDS and food security
Even in years with average food production, HIV/AIDS can
reduce household food security and make children more vulnerable.
A study in Kenya showed that the death of the male head
of a household reduced the value of the household crop production
by 68 percent (Yamano and Jayne, 2002). A study in Rwanda
showed that when the father had died, 53 percent of the
households had a less nutritious diet; when the mother had
died the figure was 23 percent (Donovan et al., 2003).When
the father was ill, 42 percent of the households had a less
nutritious diet; when the mother was ill, 34 percent of
the households had a poorer diet.
Survival
It should be expected that reduced financial resources and
child care capacities would lead to greater vulnerability
to morbidity and mortality of children affected by HIV/AIDS.
However, data to support this hypothesis are relatively
weak. A study conducted in the northwestern United Republic
of Tanzania found that children whose mother alone had died
had a 2.5-times higher risk of morbidity (Ainsworth and
Semali, 2000). When the father alone had died, this risk
was 1.8 times higher. In particular, children of poorer
households were made more vulnerable by the death of a parent.
In order to show a link between being affected by HIV/AIDS
and morbidity and mortality, large sample sizes would be
needed. However, the most vulnerable children are those
under two years of age, and the number of children who have
lost one or both parents at that age is relatively small.
This phenomenon could explain why few data are available
on the links between morbidity and mortality and being affected
by HIV/AIDS.
Nutrition
Several studies have found higher malnutrition rates among
orphans. In the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia,
orphans were more likely to be stunted, but not more likely
to be wasted, than non-orphans (Semali and Ainsworth, 1995;
Poulter, 1997). Nutrition surveillance in Zimbabwe showed
that underweight and stunting are higher among orphans than
among non-orphans – 22 percent versus 17 percent,
and 34 percent versus 26 percent ,respectively (UNICEF,
2003a). Some studies have not shown that orphans were at
an increased risk of malnutrition.
- A study carried out in Malawi showed that, among children
living in villages, orphaned children were not more malnourished
than non-orphans (Panpanich et al., 1999). Nutritional status
is the outcome of a combination of household food security,
health service and provision of care. As financial resources
in households affected by HIV/AIDS decline, access to health
care is compromised. Caring capacity for children is affected
by HIV/AIDS in the following ways:
- Reduced availability of care: care providers have to look
after ill family members, relatives, neighbours and friends;
available child care is reduced. Stretched care capacity:
families take on orphans, and the care capacity is stretched.
Reduced quality of care: when the main care provider is
ill or dies, the care will have to be provided by other
care providers who do not always have up-to-date caring
knowledge and skills. Care receiver becoming care provider:
increasingly children themselves will have to care for ill
parents and siblings.
B. Consequences on Families
By the late 1990s, many governments and major international
donors reacted to the growing evidence of the impact of
HIV/AIDS on households by suggesting that “traditional”
coping mechanisms would minimize the impact and allow households
and communities to absorb the loss of members and of their
income and assets and social contributions. This belief
had an important political dimension. By acknowledging this
element of African societies’ traditional strengths,
governments and international agencies were not obligated
to respond to the multiple crises they faced as a critical
emergency. As the impact of the epidemic has deepened and
broadened, however, new evidence has been gathered that
suggests these broad generalizations about the impact of
HIV/AIDS must be supported with credible evidence and qualified
in particular circumstances.
The slow evolution of the impact of HIV/AIDS does disguise
the immediate general affects, but the cumulative affects
registered over several years or one or two decades is already
producing, and will continue to produce significant changes
across society. The need for a degree of caution in assessing
the impact of HIV/AIDS on households and communities is
because other factors are at work at the same time. Dramatic
economic changes in sub-Saharan Africa over the past several
decades, for example, have left some households more exposed
to the impact of HIV/AIDS than others. Households and communities
already suffering conditions of poverty are, usually, most
harmed by the loss of adult members to illnesses, including
HIV/AIDS.
- Female and elderly-headed households are likewise least
able to cope with the economic, labour and social losses
arising from HIV/AIDS. Thus, if we want to know whether
households are coping with the impact of HIV/AIDS, we need
to include the wider socioeconomic context in the analysis
and identify who is affected, and within that group, who
is most affected. Differentiation of data by gender, age,
and socioeconomic status is critical. Another parallel change
to the prevailing poverty in many societies, more directly
associated with structural adjustment-induced reforms, is
the greater cost and difficulty in accessing basic social
services, including education and health care by many families.
Again, these costs have been most deeply felt by lower income
groups.
- The additional costs arising from medical care for people
with HIV/ AIDS and related illnesses can readily deplete
household savings and assets. Eco- nomically stressed families
may withdraw girls and boys from school to reduce expenses,
assist in the care of ill relatives and free up an adult
(usually a woman) to seek work. Households with more assets,
more adults able to contribute their labour for productive
activities or care, and greater wealth are usually better
able to absorb the expenses of treating HIV/AIDS and related
illnesses and the loss of one or more family members.
- Three broad statements do seem reasonable at this
stage in the pandemic:
1. The presence of HIV/AIDS in a household quickly results
in depletion of household income earning capacity and of
household savings and assets. Many households quickly move
into conditions characterized by poverty: very little income
or wealth, debt, reduced access to services, and fewer than
ever options for attaining socioeconomic security. Women
and girls, in particular, are likely to be most affected.
2. HIV/AIDS exacerbates and is exacerbated by prevailing
economic conditions.
HIV/AIDS is not a stand-alone condition, but exists within
a wider socioeconomic context that deepens the vulnerability
of households, communities and nations.
3. The economic costs of HIV/AIDS, the stigma surrounding
the disease that leads to discrimination and withdrawal,
and the ability to access social services combine to expand
socioeconomic inequalities in society. HIV/AIDS is not only
killing people, it is further dividing national societies.
- Source: UN Population Division, World Population Prospects:
2001 Revision
- II. The Social Impact of HIV/AIDS
Demographic Changes and Households- Morbidity and mortality due to HIV/AIDS and related illnesses
is concentrated among adults between the ages of 25 and
50. People in this age group are often described as at the
prime of their productive years, working and raising families.
Illness and death of adult members of a household reduces
the ability of households to provide for themselves. Dependency
ratios increase, as fewer adults care for children and the
elderly. Increasingly, older members of extended families
assume a greater role in caring for and supporting remaining
family members. As important as an adult death is whether
that person was a woman or a man. The loss of a male adult
can leave the remaining women and children with fewer economic
opportunities and less control over productive assets, including
equipment and land. The loss of a female may result in increased
malnutrition and generally less care for the children. Especially
in high prevalence countries, the impact of HIV/AIDS on
mortality, life expectancy, and household structures is
increasingly evident. Changes that are occurring include:
- • Increases in mortality are particularly noticeable
among young children and people 20 to 50 years of age. In
South Africa, HIV/AIDS accounted for 40 per cent of all
adult deaths in 2000-2001, an increase from ten per cent
in 1995-1996. In eastern and southern Africa, female mortality
due to HIV/AIDS tends to occur five to ten years earlier
than for men because women are generally infected at earlier
ages.
• Declines in life expectancy follow as adults die
at younger ages than would have been the case without HIV/AIDS.
Figure 1 illustrates changes (and projected changes) in
life expectancy for four countries in southern Africa over
a three-decade period.
- Source: UN Population Division, World Population Prospects:
2001 Revision
- The Burden of Care
- Women and girls tend to provide most of the care for sick
individuals, but men do play an important (albeit less full)
role, especially in the care of other men. Also, the differences
in the time spent on care between women and men may not
be as great as sometimes assumed, although the evidence
is incomplete. A survey of households affected by HIV/AIDS
in several provinces of South Africa found that in more
than two thirds of household’s women or girls were
the primary caregivers. Almost a quarter of caregivers (23
per cent) were over the age of 60 and just under three quarters
of these were women. Similar findings were seen in Zimbabwe.
There, most people caring for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS
were over 50 years of age. Of those, over 70 per cent were
60 years or older.
- The stress of care giving was clear. Caregivers report
regular concerns about adequate food and clothing, the high
cost of medical fees, and inability to pay school fees for
orphans. Indeed, the health of the older caregivers had
deteriorated as a result of the physical and emotional stress
of assisting the children. The burden of care on households
is significant. A study of urban and rural households in
the South African Free State Province found that caregivers
devoted four hours a day to caring for sick relatives, including
additional time to accompany a sick relative to a health
facility. Interestingly, for most caregivers, the assistance
they provided came on top of regular work. When a person
became terminally ill, the time devoted to care nearly doubled,
to 7.5 hours per day. A household survey in Côte d’Ivoire
found no respondents with AIDS hospitalized over the four
months of the last survey round, indicating that care was
provided at home.
- Further, urban-based relatives often return to a rural
home when they become too sick to work or care for themselves,
thereby shifting primary care giving to family members.
On the other hand, some rural-based civil servants apply
for transfers to urban posts when they become ill, so as
to be closer to medical facilities. Care giving involves
opportunity costs. In South Africa, 40 per cent of caregivers
took time off from work or income generating activities.
Children took time off from school or studying to provide
care. Food production and household chores all suffered
in lieu of care giving in 60 per cent of affected households.
- Source: UN Population Division, World Population Prospects:
2001 Revision
Orphaned Children
As young and middle-aged adults die of HIV/AIDS, hundreds
of thousands of children are orphaned. The growing number
of orphaned children is most evident in southern and eastern
Africa but such girls and boys can be found wherever HIV/AIDS
is present. In sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated eleven million
children had lost their mothers or both parents as of 2001;
the number was expected to climb to 20 million by 2010.
Although children are orphaned for a number of reasons,
by 2010 in Zambia, Swaziland, and Namibia, 75 per cent of
all orphans will be due to AIDS. Though the absolute numbers
are important, perhaps more important is the speed at which
the numbers are increasing, indicating the mushrooming pressures
on households, communities, government services, and civil
society to address the needs of orphaned children. Local
community leaders regularly report that their groups are
overwhelmed by the number of orphaned children they find
and who need various forms of assistance.
In addition to the daily care of people ill with HIV/AIDS
or related illnesses, the care of children while a parent
is dying and after the death is a major burden for immediate
and extended families. Increasingly, one hears that the
extended family system is overwhelmed by the magnitude of
the burden of caring for so many orphaned children. The
changes in living arrangements, well-being and opportunities
for a secure future for children is one of the most significant
long-term outcomes of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Although HIV/AIDS
is but one cause of orphan hood, it plays an ever increasing
role in removing parents from their children. A sizeable
portion of children in southern and eastern Africa are orphans.
For example, one study found that almost a quarter (22 per
cent) of all children under the age of fifteen in the South
Africa sample were maternal orphans in that they had lost
either their mother or both parents. The greater number
of these orphans are girls. Children experience the stresses
of parental illness. They may be withdrawn from school to
reduce expenses as medical costs rise or to assist in the
care of the sick relative. The emotional upheaval of seeing
a dying parent may leave children feeling abandoned and
increase their susceptibility to sexual abuse.
A study in South Africa found that illness or death had
resulted in twelve per cent of households sending children
away to live elsewhere. Some children are encouraged by
parents or foster parents to work to supplement household
incomes. Others work out of economic necessity. An already
bad situation is then exacerbated by the fact that many
of these children wind up in the worst forms of child labour.
Most working orphans surveyed in a study in Tanzania complained
of a whole complex of problems, among them going without
food, forced initiation to commercial sex work, and failure
to receive wages. Recent ILO-sponsored surveys in Tanzania,
South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe confirmed the linkage
between HIV/AIDS orphan hood and a likelihood that a child
would work, frequently outside of the household and in conditions
that are sexually and economically exploitative and prone
to harassment or violence. Orphaned children in Zambia have
been found to be twice as likely to be working as non-orphaned
children.
At home, once a household member became ill the children’s
participation in domestic and farm work increased, often
interfering with schooling, and is detrimental to health.
AIDS orphans were also found to shoulder a big portion of
the household and farm chores in foster homes. Although
most children are cared for within some family arrangement,
there are a significant and growing number who have lost
both parents and live in child-headed households without
an adult presence. It is estimated that nearly seven per
cent of Zambia’s nearly two million households are
without any adult member, and are headed by a boy or a girl
aged fourteen or younger. Surveys found between two and
four per cent of children in Gweru, Zimbabwe, lived in child-headed
households. A similar survey in Tanzania found that over
nine percent of children lived on their own, essentially
heading a household—at least where a house and living
arrangements actually existed. While they represent only
a small proportion of all households, child-headed households
and children living on the street without any adult supervision
present an especially important challenge for policy-makers,
programme planners, and service agencies alike.
The existence of children living on their own is a new phenomenon
in Africa and is a manifestation of social disruption and
social inequalities associated with HIV/AIDS. Child-headed
households exist because no relatives are left to care for
the children, or else the surviving relatives are already
too burdened to adequately care for the children they have
inherited. Many children who become household heads have
little option but to seek work to support themselves and
their siblings. Stories exist of older children earning
the cash to keep younger siblings in school; however, continued
schooling for any of the children in these households is
problematic.
Orphaned children, including children in households with
a parent ill with HIV/ AIDS or related illness, may find
their education cut short and future economic opportunities
compromised. Children from families where one or more adults
are HIV-infected are more likely than children in non-affected
households to be withdrawn from school because families
cannot afford the school costs, need the children to help
supplement household income, or need them to help care for
sick relatives. These trends are especially evident in countries
with high HIV/ AIDS rates and where school fees and costs
are relatively high for low income groups. In Zambia, rural
orphaned children have a 20 per cent higher rate of non-school
attendance than non-orphaned children. In western Kenya,
20 per cent of households with orphaned children report
having no children in school, primarily because of lack
of money. Girls, more often than boys, are withdrawn from
school or have entry postponed.
Changes in Extended Family Systems
One of the major issues arising from the impact of HIV/AIDS
on households is the ability and willingness of extended
family members to assist in the care of remaining family
members, especially children who have been orphaned. As
noted earlier, a prevailing assumption in many national
HIV/AIDS policies is that “traditional” family
structures could and will cope with the pressures caused
by the epidemic. A growing number of field studies bring
that assumption into doubt. Particularly in light of major
social and economic changes of the past several decades
(and stretching back well into the colonial era), what is
often referred to as the “extended family” takes
numerous forms across Africa and offers numerous variations
on coping with the impact of HIV/AIDS.
At the most simplistic, family members who have settled
for two or three decades (or more) in urban centers may
have weak links with their wider family. Social networks
may actually have become stronger than family membership
for some people. Families which have little contact with
their extended family have greater likelihood of orphans
being abandoned should the current caregiver die. While
it is not an either/or situation (i.e., extended families
are coping or they are not), it does appear that HIV/AIDS
is inducing new pressures on many families that increasingly
find it difficult to cope .A good portion of the burden
of support for affected families and family members falls
to older adults.
A study in rural Zimbabwe found that grandmothers were the
primary caregiver for orphaned children or children left
behind when one or both parents went to look for work (or
land) elsewhere. Another study in Zimbabwe found that half
of all foster parents for orphaned children were grandparents
and that over 60 per cent of fostering households were headed
by women. A study in KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa
found that 57 per cent of households caring for orphaned
children were headed by women who, on average, were 59 years
old—i.e. likely to be grandmothers. Yet a fourth study,
from rural southern Zambia, found that nearly 70 per cent
of all households caring for orphaned children were headed
either by a woman or an elderly person. In other cases,
relatives with jobs are expected to play a larger role in
direct support for extended family members (such as fostering
a child) or indirect support (providing money for medical
expenses or school fees). It is not unusual in eastern and
southern Africa to find salaried workers supporting two,
three or more extended family members with their earnings.
The Dissolution of Households- Under the impact of HIV/AIDS it appears that a significant
number of households cease to exist, especially if the deceased
is a woman. A widowed woman may return to her home community
and some of the children are dispersed to other relatives.
If both parents die, the children are likely to live with
other relatives or, as noted, care for themselves. In a
study covering both rural and urban areas of Zimbabwe, 65
per cent of the households where the deceased adult female
used to live before her death were reported to be no longer
in existence. Other studies have found that deceased wives
are more likely to be replaced – the widowed man remarries.
However, the children from the previous marriage may still
be sent away, and so remarriage does not necessarily mean
that the members of the original household stay together.
Either migration or dissolution seems to follow the death
of a HIV-infected responsible adult in a family, according
to a study in rural KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa.
There, households where an adult member has died of HIV/AIDS
or related causes were nearly three times more likely to
have dissolved by the end of the year than other households.
Another aspect of household change is that where a married
woman may leave her husband to care for a parent or for
siblings who have been orphaned.
Source: Children on the Brink 2002
The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Women and Girls- Women and girls face an inordinate burden in the era of
HIV/AIDS. Not only are girls and young women at greater
risk of HIV/AIDS than their male counterparts, the impact
of household illnesses and deaths causes greater sacrifices
by females. This is not to minimize the impact of HIV/AIDS
on boys and men, but economic, social and cultural patterns
places males in more favourable positions to cope with the
impact. Existing gender inequalities intensify along with
the pandemic. Gender inequalities are likely to be intensified
by the presence of HIV/AIDS. Women may have to give up jobs
and income earning to care for sick spouse or relative.
The burden of care giving falls primarily on women, and
that burden carries over into dealing with the possible
loss of assets to relatives upon the death of a husband.
Girls tend to be withdrawn from school earlier than or rather
than boys, to assist with care giving, household chores
and family income support.
- There are widespread anecdotal reports of men seeking
ever younger girls for sexual purposes, including under
twelve years of age, on the assumption that the girls are
not HIV-infected or that the man will be cured of his infection.
Girls in households affected by HIV/AIDS are twice as likely
as boys to have dropped out of school, because families
could not pay the school fees or needed the children for
household help. In addition, girls and women are subject
to sexual exploitation and abuse. A study in Kenya found
that the most important reason for high infection rates
among girls is the frequency of sexual intercourse with
older men. “Sugar daddies”, as they are known
around the world, seduce naïve and impressionable girls
with offers of cash, consumer goods, and supposed status.
In the war-like conditions of Burundi, the threat of forced
sex is a weapon used by men against women and girls. In
turn, women and girls may agree to sexual relationships
in exchange for some level of physical and material security.
Household violence toward women and girls is increasingly
being documented and linked to HIV/AIDS transmission. Girls
who have been orphaned by HIV/ AIDS and who lack strong
family support and peer networks may become vulnerable to
further sexual harassment and exploitation. Lack of appropriate
legal mechanisms to address such abuse creates conditions
where this can continue. A report from Botswana argues that
amongst children aged five to fifteen, sexual abuse by older
males may well account for the majority of, if not all new
HIV/ AIDS infections. This is partly a reason for the major
disparities in HIV/AIDS infection rates between adolescent
girls and boys. For example, in major urban areas of eastern
and southern Africa, epidemiological studies have shown
that seventeen to 22 Per cent of girls aged fifteen to nineteen
are already HIV infected compared with three to seven per
cent of boys of similar age. In addition to possibly becoming
the head of a household, women face other burdens. A study
in the early 1990s in areas of Uganda highly affected by
HIV/AIDS noted the following potential situations faced
by widows. The scenarios can be applied to many societies.
Women may experience: The loss of land and perhaps the right
to use the land, the loss of their property to the husband’s
family, unless the husband has left a will.
- Women often do not inherit property when their husbands
die; being brought into a relationship with the late husband’s
brother or other male relative otherwise they may be forced
to return to their maternal home, assuming sole responsibility
for the children, with limited outside support; and a significant
loss of cash income, the loss of access to support services
that traditional go to men, such as agricultural services
and the loss of farm production knowledge for work done
by men; and an increased workload as they struggle to meet
basic needs. The report further notes that HIV/AIDS contributes
to a dramatic rise of female headed households and that
many of these women are younger, with young children, than
previously has been the case of female-headed households.
Most female-headed households tend to be among the poorest
in communities across Africa.Again, HIV/AIDS is intensifying,
if not deepening, the gender inequities of society. In western
Kenya, a study found that some households cope with the
loss of an adult member by encouraging the marriage of a
teenage daughter in order to gain the financial assets (i.e.,
cattle or other livestock) of a dowry. The same study noted
that in households in which a female spouse had died, children
were likely to be sent to live with relatives or in other
households. In contrast, the death of a non-spouse female
adult is associated with an increase in the number of boys
in the household. This is most likely to help out with household
activities formerly handled by the now-deceased female adult.
This indicates, as might be expected, that the effects of
adult death do not depend only on the age and gender of
the deceased, but also the position of the individual in
the household.
Source: Children on the Brink 2002
The Economic Impact and Consequences of HIV/ AIDS
on Households and Communities
- HIV/AIDS is costly to most households and communities.
During periods of illness, medical costs rise, work and
incomes are disrupted, family members are drawn away from
work to provide care and in some instances children have
to work to supplement household incomes. After death, funerals
can be costly, sometimes more than the amount previously
spent on medical care. The loss of an adult undermines a
family’s income generating abilities, adding to the
work burden of surviving family members, including children.
AIDS-affected families may experience rapid transition from
relative wealth to relative poverty. For poorer and rural
households, the ability to cope with external shocks, such
as drought or increases in the prices of staple products,
will be reduced further. What stands out from numerous studies
over the past decade is how HIV/AIDS induces impoverishment
of many (but not all, and how many in a particular community
or region is unclear) affected households. Income is lost
and assets are sold or rented in order to get cash. Widespread
disinvestment of assets appears to be occurring as households
spend their savings and wealth to cope with HIV/AIDS.
C. Consequences on Communities and Society.
The economic and social consequences of the disease directly
affect the rural family. In the absence of functioning medical
care systems in African countries, medical costs and caring
for sick family members must be borne entirely by the nuclear
family or by the extended family network. In addition to
the medical costs, which include the cost of drugs and traditional
medical treatment, funeral expenses of family members are
a heavy burden on the family budget. Funeral costs appear
to be even higher than medical expenses in some settings.
Farmers have developed mechanisms to cope with the impacts
of HIV/AIDS on their rural livelihood strategies. Traditionally,
in emergency situations caused by natural disasters and
in hardship situations, the extended family network has
developed successful coping mechanisms, which are still
operational in pre-impact and early impact communities.
However, the rise of HIV/AIDS related morbidity and mortality
in full-impact communities, where the impact of the disease
already leads to the breakdown of the nuclear families;
the traditional coping mechanisms are strained to the breaking
point.
Traditional coping mechanisms are based mainly on returns
to labour at the farm and/or family unit. Even the contribution
of child labour may be increased (with children, particularly
girls, withdrawn from school) as the family struggles to
maintain the current cropping patterns. But, as a family
becomes more impoverished, it may have little choice but
to produce for its own consumption needs. Even then, family
nutrition levels could be gradually compromised. It is not
uncommon in full-impact districts/communities to observe
entire families of children with elderly grandparents as
their only form of support. Since HIV/AIDS is above all
a sexually transmitted disease, very often more than one
family member is affected and dies. As a result, the entire
assets and savings of many families, which are generally
meager before the onset of the disease, may be completely
spent, leaving the surviving family members without means
of support. A study in Uganda has shown that the burden
of the socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS is disproportionately
affecting rural women. In the districts studied, more households
were found to be headed by AIDS widows than by AIDS widowers.- Widows with dependent children became entrenched in poverty
as a result of the socio-economic pressures related to HIV/AIDS.
Widows lost access to land, labour, inputs, credit and support
services. HIV/AIDS stigmatization compounded their situation
further, as assistance from the extended family and the
community, their main safety net, was severed. The extent
to which malnutrition rates in affected households rises
depends on the type of coping mechanisms, household resource
constraints, socio-cultural context and emotional stress.
As the ability to produce and accumulate food and income
decreases, the household falls into a downward spiral of
increasing dependency ratios, poorer nutrition and health,
increasing expenditure of resources (time and money) on
health problems, more food shortages, decreasing household
viability, and increasing reliance on support from extended
family and the wider community. The effects of HIV/AIDS
on rural households, and the likely impact of the disease
on farmers' health and the nutrition of farm families, is
depicted in Table 1. The complexity of the impact of the
disease on agricultural production and household food security
requires a multispectral response that should include agricultural
extension, primary health care, education and appropriate
non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Source: Food and Agriculture Organisation
- Since its independence in 1964, Zambia has struggled to
rise above the combined challenges of a colonial legacy,
the plummeting of copper prices, national debt, and uneven
national leadership. Added to these is the erosive influence
of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which is among the most advanced
and devastating AIDS epidemics in the world today. The effects
of HIV/AIDS are felt at every level and in every sector
of Zambian society reversing development gains realized
after independence. The most productive segment of society
needed for economic growth has been decimated.
The number of AIDS orphans has reached staggering numbers,
seriously straining the abilities of the traditionally strong
extended family network. The disease itself overwhelms key
public sectors with high losses in skilled personnel. The
public health care system is unable to care for the sick,
overburdening the cadre of community workers physically
and psychologically. The education system cannot adequately
staff schools because of loss of personnel and financial
shortages while children (especially girls) are unable to
continue education either because they have to care for
sick relatives, or because their families no longer have
funds to meet school fees and related education costs.
The pandemic has also greatly impacted Zambian NGOs. Because
of surging demand for public health services in the past
decade, Zambian organizations have been over-stretched.
This challenge has been compounded by chronic shortages
in skilled key personnel. The increasing interest of the
international donor community in supporting HIV/AIDS work
has created an unanticipated growth at a pace and scale
that outstrips NGOs' managerial capacity. Effective linkages
among the proliferation of Zambian NGOs and networks working
in HIV/AIDS is needed to ensure learning and sharing of
best practices. Such linkages will also enable NGOs to improve
their capacity to be effective in employing multispectral
or trans-sectoral responses to HIV/AIDS and increase their
capacity for stewardship of HIV/AIDS resources.
Source: Zambian HIV/AIDS Learning Initiative (ZHLI)
Your charitable donations sponsor orphan children at CHILDHOPE-ZAMBIA.
Volunteers are most welcome with their donation of time
and skills. CHILDHOPE currently supports 3,600 children
in Mazabuka, Monze and Choma districts of Southern Province
in Zambia. Most children are AIDS orphans/ victims that
lost their parent(s) from the AIDS epidemic. Our mission
is to serve all their essential needs in a parental capacity.
We’re a growing global family to the children
and humbly invite you to join us in this labor of love for
the children in the rural areas who do not have the basic
necessities to thrive.
- Solutions for the HIV/AIDAS Orphaned children
and AIDS crises
The number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in the developing
world has reached crisis proportions. In Sub-Saharan Africa,
HIV/AIDS has exacerbated poverty in many communities and
has weakened the capacity of many countries to care for
their orphaned children. The present article discusses orphanage
care and its alternatives in Sub-Saharan Africa. The physical
and mental health effects of parental loss are discussed
and the psychosocial impacts of institutional care are reviewed.
Foster care is discussed as a potential long-term strategy
to help communities cope with the rising numbers of HIV/AIDS
orphans. The importance of community-based care is highlighted.
The global burden of HIV/AIDS has reached crisis proportions.
With 34 to 36 million people estimated to be living with
the disease, HIV/AIDS has shaken the already weak economic
and social infrastructures of many developing countries.
While the majority of infections occur in young adults,
children have been affected in numerous ways. Almost three
million children younger than 15 years of age are estimated
to be HIV-positive, with the vast majority of infections
occurring in developing nations. As home to 10% of the world’s
population but 70% of HIV infections, Sub-Saharan Africa
carries the largest disease burden. Thirteen million children
younger than 15 years of age have lost one or both parents
to AIDS, with the number expected to rise to 25 million
by 2010. In several African countries, 15% of children are
expected to be orphaned by the end of this decade. While
parental mortality and the associated orphaning of children
are not new issues in developing nations, HIV/AIDS has greatly
exacerbated the situation. Because disease transmission
is primarily through heterosexual intercourse, when one
parent dies of HIV/AIDS, there is a high likelihood that
the second parent will die as well, creating a large number
of so-called ‘double orphans’. In North America,
mother-to-child vertical transmission rates of HIV are as
low as 1% with appropriate prenatal care and use of antiretroviral
agents. However, in the absence of such care in developing
nations, estimates of vertical transmission during pregnancy,
delivery and breastfeeding range from 14% to greater than
40%.
- Studies in Uganda have shown that the administration of
a single dose of an antiretroviral agent before delivery
is effective in substantially reducing vertical transmission
rates. However, in the absence of ongoing antiretroviral
therapy for the parents, this strategy only serves to increase
the number of orphaned children without altering the parents’
disease course. Furthermore, because HIV/AIDS predominantly
affects the young adults who would otherwise comprise the
working population, the pandemic is deepening poverty in
entire communities and weakening the societies’ traditional
means of caring for orphans. Given the lag time between
HIV infection and death from AIDS, the number of children
orphaned will continue to rise, calling for public health
strategies that are long term in their scope and funding.
Recognizing the need to support the growing orphan population,
many nongovernmental and faith-based organizations have
founded orphanages to provide care for children. These orphanages
are well-intentioned, but their establishment is based more
on western customs than on a thoughtful consideration of
their costs and benefits. The potential adverse effects
of orphanage care in Africa have not been widely discussed,
both because many orphanages already receive significant
financial support from international donors and because
there are often few other care alternatives. However, given
the large number of orphaned children, it is important to
consider whether current care strategies are maximizing
the physical and mental well-being of as many children as
possible.
Potential strategies should be cost-effective, long term
in scope, culturally appropriate and reliant on resources
already available in communities as much as possible. Institutional
care, given its high reliance on external resources, significant
costs, and psychosocial and physical health consequences,
requires scrutiny, especially now, when effective orphan
care programs are so desperately needed. There are now 40
million people living with HIV/AIDS in the world, out of
whom29.4 million are living in Africa. The highest levels
of HIV/AIDS are found in southern Africa, with prevalence
rates exceeding 30 percent among the adult population in
Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe (UNAIDS/WHO, 2002).
There is an increase in the number of children in sub-Saharan
countries who are affected by HIV/AIDS. Among the more than
34 million orphaned children in Africa, 11 million became
orphans as a result of AIDS. From 1990 to 2010, the number
of orphans in sub-Saharan Africa who have lost both parents
will triple because of AIDS (UNAIDS/UNICEF/USAID, 2002).
It is estimated that, by 2010, 5.8 percent of all children
in the region will have been orphaned by AIDS. In the most
affected 12 African countries, orphans in general will represent
at leas15 percent of all children under 15 years of age
by 2015. Figure 1 summarizes the increase in number of AIDS
and non-AIDS orphans.
“The huge investment in tackling HIV and AIDS during
past years is finally paying off. Today in sub-Saharan Africa,
fewer children are born with HIV, fewer children lose their
parents to AIDS and more young people know how to protect
themselves and their partners. Millions of lives have been
saved and many families and communities have been kept intact”,
said Elhadj As Sy, the UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern
and Southern Africa. “It is critical that we safeguard
these gains and meet the commitments we have made to reach
all children.”
Against the background of reduced funding for HIV/AIDS activities,
Mr. Sy appealed to partners and decision makers to sustain
their contributions and make sure that all children, particularly
the poorest and most marginalized, have access to HIV/AIDS
prevention, treatment and care. According to the 2011 Universal
Access report, 90 per cent of new infections among children
still occur in sub-Saharan Africa. The total number of 390,000
newly infected children in 2010 on the continent, however,
represents a reduction by 30 per cent compared to the peak
of 560,000 new infections in 2002-2003. This has been the
result of a massive roll-out of services to prevent the
transmission of the virus from mothers to their children.
Despite the progress, children continue to lag behind adults
when it comes to accessing critical services, including
treatment. Between 2009 and 2010, the estimated number of
children with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa who received
antiretroviral therapy (ART) rose from 296,000 to 387,500.
However, they represent only a quarter of children in need
compared to roughly half of eligible adults receiving this
life-saving treatment. Recent survey data from sub-Saharan
Africa also showed that only 15 per cent of young women
and ten per cent of young men aged 15 to 24 years have been
tested and know their HIV status. Many adolescents and young
adults are diagnosed too late to fully benefit from treatment.
“Preventing new infections, especially among young
women, must remain a critical part of our response”,
said Mr. Sy. “Two thirds of young people between 15
and 24 years of age living with the virus are female. Unless
we tackle the gender dimension of the HIV/AIDS crisis, we
will fail to meet our goal of reducing by half the number
of new infections among young people by 2015. We have to
comply with our commitment to create an AIDS- free generation.”UNICEF
believes that funding for HIV must be regarded as an investment
in the future rather than a cost that can be cut.
- Current annual global charity/NGOs meet less than
half of required donations
World Orphanage Statistics
It is estimated there are between 143 million and 210 million
orphans worldwide (recent UNICEF report.)
The current population of the United States is just a little
over 300 million… to give you an idea of the enormity
of the numbers… (The current population of Russia
is 141 million)
Every day 5,760 more children become orphans
2,102,400 more children become orphans every year in Africa
alone
Every 15 seconds, another child in Africa becomes an AIDS
orphan
There are an estimated 14 million AIDS orphans in Sub-Saharan
Africa (a number higher than the total of every under-eighteen
year old in Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Ireland
combined)
This figure is estimated to reach 18 million orphans in
Africa alone by 2010 (only two and a half years away)
8 out of 10 children orphaned by AIDS lives in sub-Saharan
Africa
Approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually, but…
Each year 14, 505, 000 children grow up as orphans and age
out of the system by age sixteen
Each day 38,493 orphans age out
Every 2.2 seconds another orphan ages out with no family
to belong to and no place to call home
In Russia and the Ukraine, studies have shown that 10% –
15% of these children commit suicide before they reach age
eighteen
These studies also show that 60% of the girls become prostitutes
and 70%of the boys become hardened criminals
Another Russian study reported that of the 15,000 orphans
aging out of state-run institutions every year, 10% committed
suicide, 5,000 were unemployed, 6,000 were homeless and
3,000 were in prison within three years…
LISBON, Dec 13, 2006 (IPS) - War, AIDS, malaria, cholera
and famine have gradually turned Africa into a continent
full of orphaned children and teenagers.
- According to the latest statistics released by the United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), there are 48.3 million orphans
south of the Sahara desert, one-quarter of whom have lost
their parents to AIDS.
- Between 1990 and 2000, the number of orphans in Africa
rose from 30.9 million to 41.5 million, and those orphaned
by AIDS increased from 330,000 to seven million.
- Projections by the two U.N. agencies suggest that by 2010,
there will be 53.1 million children under 18 bereft of their
parents, 15.7 million of whom will have had parents who
died of AIDS, caused by the human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV).
- In response to these stark figures, Portuguese authorities
have indicated that their country maintains strong historic
links with Africa, and Interior Minister Antonio Santos
da Costa has called on the Portuguese Refugee Council (CPR)
to create a reception centre exclusively for African children
arriving in Portugal unaccompanied by an adult.
- The minister's challenge was immediately taken up by CPR's
chairwoman, Maria Teresa Tito de Morais, in spite of the
fact that because of a lack of funds, "few unaccompanied
children have arrived in Portugal" so far, as she explained
to IPS.
- The spine-chilling statistics on African orphans estimate
that there are 170,000 orphaned children in Mauritania,
710,000 in Mali, 800,000 in Niger, 600,000 in Chad, 1.7
million in Sudan, 280,000 in Eritrea, 48,000 in Djibouti,
4.8 million in Ethiopia, 630,000 in Somalia, 560,000 in
Senegal, 710,000 in Burkina Faso, 370,000 in Benin, 64,000
in The Gambia, 100,000 in Guinea-Bissau and 370,000 in Guinea.
- Nigeria has 8.6 million orphans, Ivory Coast 1.4 million,
Liberia 250,000, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic
340,000 each, Ghana and Cameroon one million each, Equatorial
Guinea 29,000, Gabon 65,000, the Republic of the Congo 270,000,
the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) 4.2 million,
Rwanda 820,000 and Burundi 600,000.
Uganda and Kenya are home to 2.3 million orphans each, Tanzania
to 2.4 million, Angola and Zambia 1.2 million each, the
Comoros 33,000, Malawi 950,000, Namibia 140,000, Botswana
150,000, Zimbabwe 1.4 million, Mozambique 1.5 million, Madagascar
900,000, Lesotho 150,000, and Swaziland and South Africa
2.5 million each.
Charity and Foundations statistics in the USA
GIVING STATISTICS
A widely-held perception is that corporations and foundations
are the biggest sources to tap for grants and donations.
The reality is that four out of five or 80 percent of philanthropic
dollars are contributed by individuals and bequests. That
rises to 87 percent if you include family foundation giving.
Corporations and foundations are easier to target. Their
contribution of 5 percent and 14 percent respectively was
19 percent of the total philanthropic dollars in 2010. Individuals
are more of a challenge to reach and solicit, but are by
far the largest philanthropic resource. Fundraising strategies
for parks need to consider all sources and how best to connect
park needs with all potential donor sources and their motivations
for giving. According to Giving USA, a report compiled annually
by the American Association of Fundraising Counsel, figures
on American philanthropy in 2010 showed that:
• Americans gave more than $290.89 billion to their
favorite causes despite the economic conditions. Total giving,
when adjusted for inflation, was up 3.8 percent in 2010.
This slight increase is reflective of recovering economic
confidence.
• The greatest portion of charitable giving, $211.77
billion, was given by individuals or household donors. Gifts
from individuals represented 73 percent of all contributed
dollars, a slight increase from 2009 figures.
• Charitable bequests, which are made by individuals,
totaled $22.83 billion or 8 percent of total giving. Charitable
bequests rose an estimated 18.8 percent. The sum of gifts
by individuals and charitable bequests is $234.6 billion
or 81 percent of total giving.
• Foundations gave $41 billion, accounting for 13
percent of all philanthropy in the USA.
• Individual, bequest and estimated family foundation
giving combined were approximately $254.10 billion or 87
percent of total giving.
• Corporate giving, which is tied to corporate profits,
rose an estimated 10.6 percent to $15.29 billion. This reflects
an increase in corporate in-kind donations. Corporate giving
accounted for 5 percent of all charitable giving. (Corporations
do invest additional advertising dollars in cause-related
marketing as a business expense.)
2010 Contributions By Source of Contribution
Individuals $211.77 billion
Foundations $41 billion
Bequests $22.83 billion
Corporations $15.29 billion
• People give to support what they value and believe
in. The giving percentages are relatively constant year
to year with minor shifts. We need to think creatively how
to tap into as many giving categories that can be related
to our parks and programs.
• Giving USA reported that 60 percent of public charities
saw decreases in 2010. The exceptions were religion, human
services, environment and animal organizations and giving
to individuals where giving remained stable.
• Giving to arts, culture, and humanities organizations
was hit particularly hard by the recession. Giving in 2010
to these causes, including historical and cultural preservation,
totaled $13.28 billion and accounted for 5 percent of all
contributions. In 2009 more than $12.34 billion was donated
to arts, culture and humanities organizations and accounted
for 4 percent of all contributions. Giving to environment/conservation
and animal related causes totaled 2 percent. Both are a
relatively small percentages of total giving.
• Think how you can also relate park needs and giving
opportunities to the larger giving categories on the Contributions
by Charitable Cause pie chart, such as education, human
services, health and religion. Parks can support fitness
initiatives, youth employment and education programs. In
several instances, funds have been raised to restore historic
churches in parks.
• By 2050, an estimated $41 trillion will transfer
from one generation to the next, with gifts to nonprofit
organizations projected to exceed $6 trillion.
Source: Giving USA 2010
2010 Contributions By Type of Recipient Organization
Religion $100.63 billion
Education $41.67 billion
Gifts to Foundations* $33 billion
Human Services $26.49 billion
Public-Society Benefit $24.24 billion
Health $22.83 billion
International Affairs $15.77 billion
Arts, Culture & Humanities $13.28 billion
Environment & Animals $6.66 billion
Foundation Grants to Individuals $4.20 billion
Unallocated $2.12 billion
*Estimate developed jointly by Foundation Center and Giving
USA
Giving USA also surveyed charitable organizations to find
out how gifts changed from the previous year.
Among the report findings:
• Faith-based charities, including churches, received
the most charitable gifts in 2010, capturing $100.63 billion
– 35 percent of total contributions in 2010. Religious
groups received more than a third of all contributions in
the U.S. Faith-based donations increased 0.8 percent from
the previous year.
• Charitable giving to colleges, universities and
educational organizations accounted for the second largest
share of all charitable giving at 14 percent. Educational
institutions and organizations received $41.67 billion in
gifts. Charitable giving to the education subsector increased
by an estimated 5.2 percent in 2010. This follows a drop
of 5.6 percent in 2009.
• Giving to foundations rose slightly in 2010 by an
estimated 1.9 percent. The estimate for giving to foundations
includes gifts made to independent, community and operating
foundations.
• Social or human service charities raised $27.08
billion in 2009. Giving to social service charities in 2009
increased 2.3 percent following a drop of 5.9 percent in
2008.
• Increased concerns over global warming and the impact
the environment has on health motivated donors to give $6.66
billion to environmental and animal-welfare issues. This
is a slight drop from 2009. People are beginning to connect
the environment to health-related issues. This has helped
garner support and draw new donors for environmental causes.
Giving for these organizations was 2 percent of the total
estimated giving for 2010.
• Contributions to public society benefit organizations
- nonprofit organizations, such as the United Way or Jewish
Federation, who collect funds for distribution to a number
of other agencies - received $24.24 billion in donations.
This reflects a 6.2 percent increase from 2009.
• Overall giving to health-related organizations such
as hospitals and other health charities, that raise money
for research, public awareness and fighting diseases increased
to $22.83 billion, a modest increase of 1.3 percent in 2010.
• Arts, cultural and humanities giving rose by 5.7
percent with more than $13.28 billion being raised for arts,
culture and the humanities in 2010. Gifts to arts, culture
and humanities organizations were 5 percent total of estimated
giving in 2010, a slightly larger share than the 4 percent
received in 2009.
• International affairs organizations received $15.77
billion in 2010, an increase of 15.3 percent compared to
2009. International affairs giving is 5 percent of total
estimated giving.
• In 2010gifts to foundations totaled $31 billion,
a decrease of11 percent. Gifts to foundations are 10 percent
of total estimated giving. This share was a small decline
from 12 percent in 2009.
Charities were able to raise awareness and ultimately contributions
by implementing new development strategies that include:
• Build a more compelling case for giving in light
of a more competitive fundraising environment. Charities
built strong messages around the consequences of not supporting
their cause, such as highlighting the loss of education
or art programs, the closing of a center, or reductions
in services.
• Improve communications with donors through quarterly
newsletters and regular email announcements.
• Partner with other organizations to raise visibility
and gain a broader audience.
• Improve efforts in getting small annual gifts from
members and acknowledging donor gifts within one or two
days.
• Increase advocacy work and draw attention to a need
or crisis.
• Shift priorities from fundraising for specific groups
to fundraising for specific problems or needs.
In Charitable Giving to Education, Health and Arts: An Analysis
of Data Collected in the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study,
2003, the Center of Philanthropy at Indiana University concluded
that beyond income and wealth, the most important indicator
of a household's propensity to donate is philanthropic activity
for other causes.
"The most important implication for fundraising professionals
is that donors who either give or volunteer for one cause
may extend their generosity to other causes," according
to Campbell & Company who prepared the report. "These
donors remain important sources of philanthropic potential
for organizations..."
In light of this and increased giving in other sectors,
park support organizations should relate park needs in donors'
minds in other giving categories beyond environmental. Consider
partnering with education, health and other charitable organizations
to broaden the audience/potential donor base, diversify
income sources and obtain additional funding through private
foundations, government agencies and other income. Park
support organizations can connect park needs with other
charitable causes through a number ways ranging from education
initiatives to youth and health programs.
Non Cash Contributions
The recently published IRS Spring 2010 Statistics of Income
Bulletin provides insight into noncash giving by donation
type, donor age and income for tax year 2007. More than
6.9 million tax returns reported $52.8 billion in noncash
charitable donations. Of the roughly 18.6 million noncash
donations that were reported:
o Corporate stock represented the largest category of noncash
donations at $23.7 billion or 44.9 % of all contributions.
o Clothing donations represented the second largest category
of noncash donations at $7.6 billion followed by land donations
at $4.0 billion. They represent 14.4 percent and 7.7 percent
of all non cash contributions, respectively.
o Taxpayers with annual gross incomes of $10 million or
more gave the most non cash donations at $17.6 billion or
one-third of all donations. The average donation amount
per return of taxpayers in this category was $2.4 million.
Taxpayers with annual gross incomes between $200,000 and
$500,000 gave $6.6 billion (12.5 percent of all donations),
representing the second largest group to give in terms of
dollar value. The overall average donation amount for all
taxpayers claiming donations and deductions were just over
$7,600.
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