Worldwide, it is estimated that more than 15 million children under 18 have been orphaned as a result of AIDS ¹.

 

Eight out of every 10 children in the world whose parents have died of AIDS live in sub-Saharan Africa ¹. This number equates to more than 12 million children. In 2005 SA had an estimated 1-1.2 million children under the age of 18 have directly become orphaned due to the AIDS pandemic ².

 

 

By 2010, it is predicted that there will be around 15.7 million AIDS orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa ³. In SA the situation is likely to peak in 2015 at roughly 2 million children younger than 15 years old & 3 million children younger than 18 years old ⁴.

 

 

“We’re all struggling to find a viable response, and there are, of course, some superb projects and initiatives in all countries but we can’t seem to take them to scale,” says Stephan Lewis, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. “In the mean time, millions of children live traumatized, unstable lives, robbed not just of their parents, but of their childhood and futures.” ⁵

 

Additionally, the Executive Director of UNICEF, Carol Bellamy stated that: “The silence that surrounds children affected by HIV/AIDS and the inaction that results is morally reprehensible and unacceptable. If this situation is not addressed, and not addressed now with increased urgency, millions of children will continue to die, and tens of millions more will be further marginalised, stigmatised, malnourished, uneducated, and psychologically damaged.” ⁶

One of the most pressing questions our country faces is how to provide a response that can be both loving and sufficiently large in scale ⁷. A meaningful, sustainable solution is needed urgently to one of the most tragic long-term consequences of the AIDS epidemic.

 

Embraced by an entrepreneurial spirit, KiBWE KiDS is to be recognised as a leading private initiative in the social services sector with its focus to rescue and raise orphans affected by the AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa, in a unique manner at suitably equipped facilities.

 

 

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1	UNAIDS, Chapter 4: the impact of AIDS on people and societies
2	The Demographic Impact of HIV/AIDS in SA, National and Provincial Indicators for 2006; Dorrington R, Johnson L, Bradshaw D, Daniel T
3	UNAIDS/ UNICEF/ USAID,
4	MRC policy brief. Orphans of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic. No. 2 May 2002.
5	UN Secretary-General's envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis (2003),
6	Bellamy C. (2002),
7	Africa Leadership Initiative: Orphans and Vulnerable Children in South Africa (April 13, 2007)