Abstract : To the tragedy of the 17 million people who have lost their lives to AIDS in Africa, add the 12 million orphaned children left behind. According to the US Agency for International Development, Zambia is severely affected by this tragedy with 1.2 million orphans in 2000. Of these, 930,000 have lost at least one parent to AIDS. It is noted that housing, feeding, educating, and nurturing these children are both a moral imperative and essential to Africa's development prospects. Carol Bellamy, executive director of the UN International Children's Emergency Fund, stated that the practical response to this crisis is to strengthen the extended family. However, the traditional mechanism for the care of vulnerable children has started to break down due to poverty and disease. In Zambia, supporting the family's ability to raise orphans and other vulnerable children has been primarily a community effort. Thus, programs are established to care for the sick and provide counseling and support for orphans and their families. In addition, the government and civil society groups developed three types of responses to meet the educational needs of orphans and other vulnerable children.
Notes : English
Web site : http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol15no3/153child.htm