AIDS awareness badge from SOS Children's Villages in South Africa

May 13, 2010: Over the last decade, the cost of AIDS drugs in Africa dropped dramatically while foreign largess supported treatment for growing numbers of African AIDS patients. That trend, it appears, is ending.

According to The New York Times (May 9), Ugandans with AIDS are starting to be turned away for treatment at clinics that had been serving them for years. Funds to disperse AIDS drugs to 200,000 people in Kenya are about to run out. A diminished drug supply in Nigeria and Swaziland and fewer treatment slots in Tanzania and Botswana are spelling disaster for adults with AIDS and the children who depend on them.

The ranks of Africans with AIDS swell every year by one million. According to one estimate, stemming AIDS would cost $27 billion annually, while donors currently give about $10 billion a year.

Despite mounting AIDS cases, The New York Times reports that world donors seem to be moving away from a focus on AIDS toward treating less costly diseases such as malaria and diarrhea. For instance, the Obama administration's new Global Health Initiative is aiming its spotlight on maternal and child health. The British government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are moving in a similar direction.

SOS Children's Villages, AIDS, and Africa

College students in Sierra Leone participate in AIDS testing at an SOS Children's Villages World AIDS Day event

Without increased grants for drugs to treat AIDS, greater numbers of children in Uganda and countries across Africa will become homeless orphans.

SOS Children's Villages has been working for decades in Africa to bring hope to children whose lives have been devastated by personal tragedy. With a presence in more than 40 African countries, SOS provides family-based love and support for boys and girls whose biological families can no longer care for them.

Most of Africa's AIDS orphans live south of the Sahara. Children whose families have been eroded by AIDS often grow up without love, food, education, or medical attention. On top of their impoverished lives, they face discrimination because of the stigma still associated with AIDS in Africa. "It's a dreadful situation," observes a teacher at an SOS school in Zimbabwe. "Children are forced to take on the role of adults at a very early age. They have shocking burdens that make your heart weep."

Educating Women and Children about AIDS

Children from African families affected by AIDS are cherished within SOS communities. SOS Children's Villages gives them love, a full stomach, schooling, and self-confidence. The charity also educates them about AIDS. Addressing the fact that many African women lack access to AIDS information, SOS family strengthening programs counsel women on AIDS prevention. SOS clinics offer them free HIV tests and antiretroviral therapy.

Help SOS Children's Villages show a child affected by AIDS that the world has not forsaken her. Sponsor an SOS child today.