Rural Poor Children Still Dying To HIV/AIDS Stigmatization

Mbengwi Council area made up of 29 villages has a surface area of 147,000 square kilometers. Mbengwi Council has a population of 31,591 inhabitants as per the third generation population and housing census of 2005 published in 2010. This figure shows a severe drop of population growth by 60.75% as compared to 52,000 inhabitants in 1987. (www.mbengwicouncil.org ). The people face problems due to unemployment and poverty and this causes them to become delinquent; prostitute and theives, the young girls become pregnant at young ages, parents die at young ages leaving their children orphaned who are cared for by some immediate family members and friends.Most of them due to the situations and challenges that be-fell them and their environment while growing up most often grow up to become delinquent youths who are detrimental to both the general public and the national economy and advancement.

Following research most of the death causes are health-related and influenced by high rates of poverty and unemployment. Most inhabitants of the Municipality die leaving behind children with no parental care as was the case of Miki a 7 years old boy that lost his parents to HIV/AIDS. In the month of June 2016 he also died from the disease due to poor follow-up and care from his aged grandmother and stigmatization from his teachers and peers. Like Miki several other orphans around the community have become thieves, prostitutes, HIV/AIDS patients, school drop outs, young and single mothers, and some like Miki have even died. This is because there is no care or follow-up system for this group of children. In the Mbengwi Municiplity there is just one orphanage, limiting the care programs for orphaned children. They don’t have parental guidance or groups where they can learn about their health, their importance and role in the community, hygiene and sanitation lessons and receive coaching and mentorship. They have no one to fight for their rights or speak up for them like for instance before his death Miki had told me that; "since his health was weak there were periods when the teachers told him not to come to school for fear of him infecting other children in his school". At an age as early as that stigmatization played a great role in bringing down his moral and played a great factor in deteriorating his already failing health.

The Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) who at tender ages are open to learn both positive and negative things which will reflect on the kind of adults they become tomorrow need follow-up and care to ensure that what they learn at these ages is positive and will have positive impacts on them; who are our leaders of tomorrow. Investing in their future in the early ages of their lives is going to have a sustainable impact on the community’s development and growth. Also OVC community-based programmes help to reduce stigma and discrimination. By addressing socio-emotional effects of the situation, OVC programs reduce the likelihood of children and adolescents moving from being affected to been infected by the challenges that left them orphans.

While efforts to keep children in school have positive impacts on prevention, economic strengthening activities help remove barriers to accessing facility-based services,and create an enabling environment for OVC. With the increased number of recorded deaths of parents and which has left behind an increased number of orphaned and vulnerable children it becomes necessary to secure the future of these children and prevent the reoccurrence of the same chain of situation.

Educating these children and the community members on income generating activities and entrepreneurship will help reduce the number of new deaths thereby reducing the number of orphaned and abandoned children in the community. Scholarships and small grants will help educate and create jobs for some of the children thereby reducing the risks of them becoming delinquent youths in the future.