A press release published by the South African Instutite of Race Relations - 19 November 2009
Estimates show that by 2015, some 5 700 000 or 32% of all children in South Africa, would have lost one or both parents due to HIV/AIDS.
In 2007, some 2 500 000 children in South Africa had lost one or both parents, with more than half of all of these deaths being a result of HIV/AIDS. According to statistics released by the South African Institute of Race Relations in the annual South Africa Survey, the numbers of orphans and child-headed households are on the increase in South Africa. Between 2002 and 2007 the number of double orphans — children who had lost both their parents — doubled, from 352 000 to 701 000. KwaZulu-Natal, the province with the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate, also had the highest number of double orphans in 2007, at 229 000.
The number of child-headed households has also increased as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Between 2002 and 2007 the number of children living in child-headed households increased by 25% to 148 000 from 118 000.
Ms Gail Eddy, a researcher at the Institute, stated that, ‘As HIV/AIDS continues to affect the life-spans of parents, more and more children are going to be orphaned. Child-headed households will also continue to increase. The problematic issue is that there are very limited safety nets for children who are orphaned. The Department of Social Development has a budget which is geared towards the delivery of social grants, such as child support grants. However, vulnerable children, especially those that are orphaned, need additional support that is not necessarily monetary in nature as these children have also lost their primary care giver.What exacerbates the lack of support for these children, is that South Africa has a shortage of social workers who are responsible for identifying vulnerable children and providing them with the necessary support.’
If the status quo is maintained, South Africa will be faced with a major crisis in the future, due to the social and economic consequences of increasing numbers of orphans and child-headed households.
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