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  • Title: Who will take care of the AIDS orphans?
    Author: Webb D.
    Journal: AIDS Anal Afr; 1995; 5(2):12-3. PubMed ID: 12288598.
    Abstract:
    There will be 500,000 AIDS orphans in South Africa by the year 2000. They will need proper care in order to avoid poverty, marginalization, and ultimately resorting to crime, prostitution, and drug abuse. More than 500 respondents in five communities in South Africa and Namibia were surveyed in 1992-93 about what they think should happen to AIDS orphans. 52.5% feel that relatives or other community members should take care of the orphans. Support for government care averages 45.3%, but varies widely across the sites, ranging from 5% in the Oshana Region to 80.2% in Natal. The pattern is reversed for those favoring community care, with a low of 16.5% in Natal and an high of 97% in Oshana Region. More than 75% of people in Soweto, the only urban sample, feel that the government is responsible in some way, mostly through orphanages. Teenagers and elderly people, most likely to be dependents themselves, were the least likely to be sympathetic to orphans, while the poorest and most affluent households were the most sympathetic. Individuals of parental age were most likely to prefer orphan care within the community, either by a family unit or at an interhousehold level, and the middle income group regards the government as the primary caregivers. There is no doubt that the government of South Africa will find it very difficult to cope if communities refuse to care for AIDS orphans. Reciprocity must be identified within social networks and strengthened institutionally, with education programs launched to emphasize that providing for orphans is primarily the responsibility of relatives and that institutional response can only supplement rather than replace community support systems.
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