Older People Caring for HIV Orphans

Older People Caring for HIV Orphans & Vulnerable Children
By James Achanyi-Fontem,
President, FECABPA
As the HIV/AIDS epidemic strikes at the heart of families and community support structures, large numbers of older people are assuming responsibility for bringing up orphans and vulnerable children. Family structures are changing. Often the middle generations – both men and women – are completely absent, leaving the old and young to support each other. This means that families of older careers and orphans and vulnerable children are compelled to take on new roles.
Current global figures estimate that 16 million children under 15 have already lost either one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. Older people make up a significant proportion of the poorest and HIV/AIDS exacerbates the extreme poverty faced by older-headed households. This compromises the ability of older carers to care adequately for children as they face difficulties obtaining sufficient food, clothes and shelter, and limits their access to health care and education services. The financial burden of caring for children means older carers are often forced to sell their assets or borrow money.
The scarcity of HIV/AIDS information for older people limits their ability to protect themselves and their families. Though older people should be playing a key role in HIV/AIDS prevention within their communities and families, their role as counsellors and educators has not been sufficiently recognised in community-based and national HIV/AIDS prevention programmes.
The trauma resulting from stigma of being affected by HIV/AIDS results to high levels of exclusion, for older people and for orphans and vulnerable children, leaving them ashamed and alone. Some of them feel they are failing in their role as carers because they are unable to protect their family from social isolation.
A solution to this situation is the forging of mutual relationships, even when economic crisis undermine these relationships, because the advantages of keeping children with their remaining family members whenever it is possible are evident. If appropriate support is available, older people and orphans and vulnerable children can overcome some of the challenges posed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Safety Net
Social protection in the form of a low level of income guarantee, would go a long way to offset the additional financial burdens experienced by older people as carers of orphans and vulnerable children.
Access to education
Orphans and vulnerable children experience great difficulty accessing education services. The lack of free primary education and the lack of means to pay for school fees remain serious problems. Flexible education services needed to be created to ensure that all children, including orphans and vulnerable children have access to education.
Targeting HIV/AIDS Information
Older people’s roles as leaders and educators must be harnessed to support HIV/AIDS education and prevention efforts. Seeing the impact of HIV/AIDS on their communities, many older people are keen to receive information and education about it in order to protect their families and themselves.
Psychosocial trauma
A major problem for those affected by HIV/AIDS is the stigma and discrimination they face. HIV/AIDS has often been considered a form of punishment for wrongdoing, and is associated with promiscuity and witchcraft.
This often results in acute levels of exclusion for older people and orphans living with, or related to, people living with HIV/AIDS. Social ties and traditional support mechanisms weaken when ignorance and stigma marginalise a family affected by HIV/AIDS, leaving them feeling ashamed and alone. And many older people feel they are failing in their role as a carer because they are unable to protect their family from this kind of isolation.
Building awareness
Open community discussions led by local leaders, as well as awareness-raising campaigns can go a long way to improve understanding of the causes and impacts of HIV/AIDS. Some community initiatives are developing innovative ways to express openly the issues related to HIV/AIDS. They aim to integrate affected children and older people through community events such as story telling, drama and children’s drawings.