Monthly Themes

Orphans & Vulnerable Children

Overview

Who wouldn’t help a child in need? Who will help hundreds of thousands, and how? Côte d’Ivoire has more than 310,000 children orphaned by AIDS, as well as 80,000 living with HIV (2004). The epidemic puts these orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) at heightened risk of poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, economic and sexual exploitation, stigmatization, and HIV infection. Worse, the country’s prolonged crisis has increased HIV transmission, disrupted schooling and health services, and delayed World Bank assistance. Aid programs are concentrated in Abidjan, leaving many families and children – especially in rural areas and in the North – in desperate isolation. Their numbers and their needs call for an expanded, coordinated response that translates goodwill into good services and carries compassion to those least able to speak up for themselves.

Goals

• To identify, support, and monitor children and families affected by HIV/AIDS in all parts of Côte d’Ivoire
• To expand, decentralize, and coordinate services to meet children’s nutritional, health, psychosocial, and educational needs within their families and communities
• To strengthen the capacity of community- and faith-based organizations, traditional leaders, and others to address OVC needs in local, sustainable ways
• To coordinate services to match the particular needs of OVC subgroups, such as children with HIV and adolescent girls

PEPFAR Steps

• Working with the Ivorian Ministry of Solidarity and other partners, PEPFAR has supported improvements in policy, coordination, and service delivery, including a national OVC program (2003), OVC policy (2005), and monitoring system.
• In 2005, more than $1.4 million USD from PEPFAR joins Global Fund and UNICEF funding to expand decentralized services by community- and faith-based organizations. New projects target OVC in rural areas and in the North and West.
• PEPFAR-funded partners are launching aggressive household outreach to connect families in need with HIV testing, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, care for TB and HIV, and support services.
• In San Pedro, an innovative community social center will pilot a model linking all social, education, and health services for OVC and families affected by HIV.
• In 2006, PEPFAR plans to more than double its OVC funding to provide services to more than 38,000 children and their families.