In C te d'Ivoire, the International Catholic Child Bureau is helping to place orphans in foster homes and provides training and assistance. In Kenya and Tanzania, the African Development Foundation has funded farm projects, secondary education and housing for AIDS-affected families. But such projects are not being carried out on the scale that is required. Most orphan programs can only help fewer than a hundred children at one time. In countries like Thailand, Uganda and Zambia where tens or hundreds of thousands of children are affected, the response desperately needs to be geared up to provide even basic support to those who most need it.
Finance is an important consideration.
Investment in these orphaned children is necessary for a stable future, both for the children themselves and for their communities. But in the world's poorest countries, children orphaned by AIDS may be seen as only one of many competing urgent priorities. Despite a widespread belief that orphans are well-served by AIDS care organizations, there is a growing realization that such care is inadequate and that children orphaned by AIDS are in reality often a neglected group. Reaching children before their parents die Problems for children affected by AIDS are most acute from the time that HIV is diagnosed in a parent. If organizations wait until children become orphans, it is almost too late.