Abstract : This study of children orphaned by the AIDS pandemic in Zambia investigated risk and protective factors in rural and urban communities associated with the impact of premature parental death on educational, health, nutritional and emotional outcomes.
Retrospective data were collected for a cohort of 645 urban and 291 rural orphans aged 0-15, one or both of whose parents died from AIDS between 1991 and 1995. Structured interviews were conducted with 223 urban and 101 rural caregiving families in low-income neighborhoods. In both urban and rural settings, age was the principal factor predictive of nutritional and health status with younger children the most vulnerable. Educational continuity was most severely jeopardized in the urban sample for children of low-income families and girls, but in the rural sample age was the most significant risk factor: older children were often withdrawn from school to care for their younger siblings. Emotional well-being was less clearly related to familiarity of the child with the caregiver than to sibling dispersion, which was a major risk factor in the urban sample.
Implications are discussed for the design of services to reach children and families with the greatest needs. Intervention strategies should be carefully adjusted to the ecological, socio-cultural, and economic conditions of each community.
Notes : Awarded 1998
Web site : http://www.medguide.org.zm/aids/aidszam23.htm