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The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa has defined the childhoods of an entire generation. Over the past twenty years, international NGOs and charities have devoted immense attention to the millions of African children orphaned by the disease. But in Crying for Our Elders, anthropologist Kristen E. Cheney argues that these humanitarian groups have misread the ‘orphan crisis’. She explains how the global humanitarian focus on orphanhood often elides the social and political circumstances that actually present the greatest adversity to vulnerable children—in effect deepening the crisis…
This report examines and discusses the risks faced by African orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs); the costs and pros and cons of interventions working with OVCs; and provides guidance on what kinds of intervention or approaches might work in a given country context or situation.
The study emphasizes three concerns: the vulnerabilities associated with orphanhood require immediate attention; there is an urgent need to target assistance to the neediest children; although there is still no blueprint on the best way to scale up interventions, the World Bank’s multicountry AIDS programs…