Photo: Marcus Perkins/Tearfund
When parents die of an AIDS-related illness and leave their children behind, a new form of family is created: the child-headed household. Malaria, poor health and the violence of war can all create child-headed households, but AIDS is making more than most.
We don’t know as much about child-headed households as we’d like to. Why? Because these are children whose lives are hidden from view – keeping their heads down so as not to draw attention to themselves, working hard and trying to create a life where childhood has vanished.
Photo: Marcus Perkins/Tearfund
We don’t know enough, but we do know this:
- According to UNAIDS there are 15 million children orphaned by AIDS
- In Rwanda alone there are as many as 10,000 child-headed households
- One in ten households in Swaziland is run by orphans
- Every 15 seconds another child is orphaned by AIDS
- Every year 1,400 children under 15 die from an AIDS-related illness