Supporting Orphans Affected by HIV and AIDS
After Jaliya Nakandi's parents died from AIDS, she began living with her uncle in the Bwaise slums, one of the most deprived slums in Uganda located just outside the capital city of Kampala. Out of fear that his own kids could contract HIV from Jaliya, her uncle made her move her bedding out of his house and into a nearby makeshift structure where the 8-year-old would spend her daytimes in solitude. She was prohibited from interacting with her cousins and forced to beg for food in attempts to survive.
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Jaliya is one of 2.3 million Ugandan children who have lost parents to HIV and AIDS. This is one of the highest figures in the world, but it is not just a Ugandan problem: by 2010 there will be 15.7 million children orphaned by AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, according to U.N. statistics.
The HIV rate in the Kampala slums is also rising at an astronomical rate. The flood of new infections will soon make it impossible for Uganda to stay ahead of the epidemic. According to a recent study by ActionAid and its partner, the Home Based Care initiative, HIV rates in the slums are double those in Kampala.
The underlying reasons for this spike is related to poverty, unemployment and peer pressure in the slums. Without other opportunities, many slum dwellers resort to high risk behavior such as drug abuse and commercial sex. These factors perpetuate the rapid spread of HIV, especially among women and children. Children living with HIV are often stigmatized and hidden in makeshift homes the way Jaliya was by her caregiver.
Despite the bleak reality of the situation, there is hope for the future. ActionAid is working with Ugandans to support vulnerable children and orphans living with HIV and AIDS in the Bwaise slums.
Our main objectives are to increase the ability of parents and guardians of children and orphans living with HIV and AIDS to find opportunities allowing them to afford care-giving needs as well as increasing orphans’ and vulnerable children’s access to HIV and AIDS testing, and access to antiretroviral treatment regimens.
Monica Aviso, 24-years-old and HIV-positive, is photographed in the house she rents, after being thrown out of her late husband's home, in the town of Soroti, Uganda. ActionAid is working throughout Uganda to counter HIV discrimination.
Copyright © Kate Holt/ActionAid
Additionally, ActionAid has plans to renovate the only public primary school in the Bwaise slums to ensure that vulnerable children can enroll and stay in school. Currently, a basic education grant is being awarded to 50 HIV and AIDS positive children so that they can complete school and serve as role models for children in similar circumstances.
Another objective of the project is to support grassroots community effors such as the Tusitukirewamu Women’s Group and other organizations that support home-based care services. These groups support teaching methods for food stability, family voluntary counseling, HIV and AIDS testing, patient follow up, treatment and counseling to families living in the Bwaise slums.
In May 2007, Regina Bayiyana -- a member of the Tusitikirewamu Women’s Group -- found Jaliya in a near fatal state of starvation and deprivation. Regina counseled her and took her to a Pediatric Infectious Diseases Clinic. Jaliya was found to be HIV positive and suffering from tuberculosis. Thanks to Regina’s support, Jaliya is enrolled in an HIV-treatment program and has returned to school. Moreover, with the help of volunteer counselors, she is welcome in her uncle’s house, receiving his care and happy to be able to play with her cousin.
ActionAid’s agenda supports existing programs and implements new strategies to help Uganda’s children and orphans scraping by without support, as Jaliya once had to, in the slums.
Learn More About ActionAid's Work In Uganda
