[pronut-hiv] SOUTH AFRICA: New action plan to assist OVC underway

["ProNut-HIV" <pronut-hiv@healthnet.org>]

SOUTH AFRICA: New action plan to assist OVC underway 
IRIN News, 7/4/05

DURBAN, 4 July (PLUSNEWS) - As a growing number of children orphaned by
HIV/AIDS seek assistance from the state, South Africa's social
development department has begun drawing up a plan to address their
needs.

An estimated one million children have been orphaned and, according to
the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), at least 5.7 million
could lose one or both parents to AIDS by 2015.

Civil society organisations have been calling for new regulations and
better enforcement to protect orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) for
several years.

NGOs say most of these children are left without protection and
support. They are also at risk of malnutrition, physical and sexual
abuse, exploitation and exposure to HIV infection; many are being used
as labourers and either never attend school or drop out.

South Africa does not currently have any regulations in place that
specifically address the needs of OVC.

The government's action plan - now in its draft stage - is expected to
include guidelines on increasing care and support for OVC, and
strengthening local government structures that often "lack capacity",
explained Dr Connie Kganakga, the Department of Social Development's
chief director of HIV/AIDS.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has argued that the course of the
orphan crisis can only be altered by providing immediate help, including
free basic education; safe, viable options for earning a living; and
financial and other assistance.

But free education, although a favoured goal, was "unlikely to become
reality any time soon" in South Africa, according to a report by Cally
Ardington, research associate at the Southern Africa Labour and
Development Research Unit of the University of Cape Town.

Such policies needed to be aimed at poor children in general to avoid
stigma and discrimination against those orphaned by HIV/AIDS. An orphan
policy might also "give incentives to [family] carers to give up their
children, hoping they will get grants or be better cared for in
institutions", warned Shirin Motala, board member of the Alliance for
Children's Entitlement to Social Security (ACESS).

Kganakga acknowledged that "HIV/AIDS has very serious social
development implications", which had already started to "take back this
country's development gains".

South Africa had experienced the "disintegration of family structures
and [negative] social impact on communities," she said. "The increasing
financial and emotional burden on extended families increases the
vulnerability of children." 

The OVC action plan will focus particularly on supporting youth, gender
and workplace programmes. The government also wants to increase its
support to home-based care organisations through skills training and
grants paid to caregivers - the department currently pays grants to more
than 1,200 home-based care sites.

More was needed, said Stellar Zulu, network coordinator of the
Pietermaritzburg-based NGO, Children in Distress (Cindi). "No matter how
many programmes one can draw up to meet the needs of children, without
first filling their stomachs this will be fruitless." 

One of the main challenges in tackling the orphan crisis was the lack
of human resources in the public social services and NGO sectors;
existing staff were also poorly paid. "We have a large number of people
committed to care but they don't stay in their jobs because they don't
earn enough to survive," Motala noted.

Civil society groups were sceptical about the department's goal of
establishing a countrywide OVC database, fearing that such records might
be used against the children. 

Motala cautioned that writing a "policy [document] does not necessarily
equal implementation".

According to Kganakga, the government's action plan was expected to be
finalised by the end of July, but would need approval by the cabinet and
head of social services, a process that might take until the end of the
year.