What Works for Women and Girls

A study with 1,400 adults in South Africa found that assistance to families as wellas additional funds to support OVCs increased the likelihood of adults supportingorphans. When non-direct financial assistance such as paying for the child’s educationand providing for a trained person to assist in care, were included, adults were morewilling to care for orphans. However, 28% of best friends, 29% of strangers and 15% offathers and 17% of grandparents said they would decline to take in a child or childrenif they were HIV-positive (Freeman et al., 2006). (Gray V) (OVC, financial assistance,South Africa)Promising Strategies:6. Programs for OVC should keep siblings together if at all possible.A cross-sectional survey (year not given) in rural China with 124 double AIDS orphans(42% were female) with an average age of 12.4 years and with at least one sibling (69separated from siblings and 55 living with a sibling) concluded that separation fromsiblings is associated with trauma symptoms of AIDS orphans who had lost both parentsand were placed in group care settings. The study found that the orphans separatedfrom their siblings had significantly higher scores on anxiety, anger, dissociation andsexual distress as compared to than those living with their siblings (Gong et al., 2008).(Gray IV) (orphans, China)7. Providing community development projects, rather than a narrowly defined HIV/AIDSprogram, may reduce the stigma against OVC.A 2006–2007 study of 6,127 children ages 8–14 and 4,591 caregivers in four OVCprograms in Kenya and Tanzania found that services targeting OVC or families affectedby HIV/AIDS may also add to stigma. “A noticeable fraction of the sample across eachstudy setting reported that there was community jealousy of services provided to OVCand their families.” Between 22 and 57 percent of the children across all study sitesperceived jealousy for the services they received, while among caregivers these perceptionswere higher—from 27 to 67 percent. “These results bear credence to both theimportance of engaging the community in decisions regarding who will receive services,as well as programmatic efforts to sensitize the community on the needs of OVC andthose of HIV-affected families,” (Nyangara et al., 2009: 31) (Gray IV) (OVC, stigma,Kenya, Tanzania)A community development project that incorporated income-generating activities forwomen’s cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire identified 409 OVC, all of whom were providedschool kits and fees, medical care, psychosocial support and monthly food supplementsfor families in need, along with increased HIV testing of those in the community.Because the community perceives the program as a community development program364 CHAPTER 12 CARE AND SUPPORT