For years Zimbabwe was one of the most educated and prosperous nations on the greater continent of Africa. As the AIDS pandemic has swept over this once promising nation, Zimbabwe's population has decreased by more than 4 million people and its citizens have seen their life expectancy cut down from an average of 60 years of age in 1990, to just 34i years of age in 2009 - one of the lowest life expectancies on Earth.
The first case of AIDS in Zimbabwe was recorded in 1985. By the end of the 1980's, adult prevalence had risen to 10% of the population, and by the late 1990's, this number hit a staggering 29%ii. In 2007, adult prevalence had scaled back to 20% giving the nation some hope. However, many of those infected in the 1980's and 90's fell victim to the disease. The deaths of these adults, compounded with lives lost to military violence and political strife, have left an entire generation of Zimbabwe's children orphaned.
Nearly one in four, or 25%, of all children in Zimbabwe have lost one or both of their parents, a rate that rivals the historic levels set by the Rwandan genocideiii. The suffering of these children has been exacerbated by an unstable political climate and a faltering economy. Additionally, many of these orphans are combating HIV/AIDS infections contracted from their mothers, and close to 80% of these children do not have access to health care. This lapse in coverage is a result of their lack of financial resources as well as an insufficient infrastructure; in 2008, three of the four major hospitals in Zimbabwe had ceased to operateiv.
The orphan crisis is very much a result of the ongoing AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe. Many orphans are left to fend for themselves, while the lucky ones are cared for by aging relativesv. In both cases, these children do not have access to the resources they need to attend school, eat properly, or obtain health care. With one fifth of the orphan population infected with HIV/AIDS vi and no way to treat the disease, the small gains Zimbabwe has made in scaling back new infection rates is threatened by a possible reversal. This potential backslide has made providing for these children a necessity.
i. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/dead-by-34-how-aids-and-starvation-condemn-zimbabwes-women-to-early-grave-424669.html
ii. http://allafrica.com/stories/200711010001.html
iii. http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2007/07/18/number_of_orphans_spikes_as_zimbabwe_crises_deepen/
iv. href=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7714892.stm
v. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/africa_zimbabwe0s_aids_orphans/html/1.stm
vi. http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/aids-africa/projects-by-country/aids-zimbabwe-africa
