IMPACT OF PARENTAL HIV/AIDS DEATHS ON AFRICAN CHILDREN AND FAMILIES Honors Project Lindsay Stortz.

Why This? My Friend Nora George, a nurse in Cameroon Dire and Growing Need  My experiences living in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya and starting my AIDS organization.  Evidential foundation for hospice program in Cameron being started by nurse Ndikintum George

Sub-Saharan Africa & Cameroon UNAIDS, 2004  Orphans account for 15% of all children in Eleven nations.  20 million children orphaned by 2010  Cameroon has an HIV Prevalence of 5-9%

Questions  When an African child loses her parents, what happens to the child and to the family?  How do the economic difficulties that these children face impact their ability to grieve the loss of their parent?  What is being done to help These children?  What more should be done?

Method  Impact to the child and family  Used search term “AIDS orphans”  Read and analyzed all of the research.  Impact on the child’s grief  Used search term “childhood bereavement”  Read and analyzed all of the research.  Included research on African culture and how it may impact the grief response of the child.

Social Impact  90% of orphaned are cared for in extended families  May be abandoned by extended family  May be maltreated  May face stigma in wider society

Economic impact  Adoptive households more likely to be poor.  Caregiver likely to be elderly, female, HIV positive, which are risk factors for extreme poverty  Unable to afford school fees  Child Labor, sex work  More likely to be malnourished

Childhood Grief Response  Sad  Angry  Guilty  May start acting younger than they are  Will maintain a bond with deceased parent through memory and being “watched over”  Interferes with Life  Symptoms of PTSD  Overwhelming guilt  Suicidal thoughts  Blames self for death NormalComplicated

The Tasks of Childhood Grief  Understand the death  Have their fears and anxieties addressed  Reassurance they are not to blame  Listened to and understood  Feelings validated.  Process their emotions of sadness, guilt, anger, etc.

Conclusion  Socioeconomic problems put children at greater psychological risk  Maltreatment puts children at greater psychological risk  Combination of these factors, plus the grief the child is facing can lead to behavioral and emotional problems during childhood and into adulthood

Interventions  Criteria: culturally appropriate, affordable, family- based  Socioeconomic  Capacity Building  Counselors & Psycho-education  Memory Boxes  Succession Planning  Support Groups

Limitations of The Research  Africa is a very big and very diverse place! In Cameroon, 200 different Languages are spoken!  English only  Lack of available research on:  grief of African children  Interventions in Africa  Double Orphans

Want to get involved??  World Vision:  Fahari Ministries: Kenya  AIDS alliance of Durham:  DATA-Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa: data.org  For more information visit and KnowHivAids.org

Acknowledgements  Eric Stortz, my wonderful husband, for his patience and for helping me get through it!  Dr. Miles, my honors advisor, for all of her advice and encouragement  George of Cameroon for his Commitment and his Help in teaching me About Cameroon, his nation.