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A Threat to Africa's Children

The Red Cross issued a warning of "a silent tsunami" wiping out an entire generation as it launched a campaign on Wednesday to help millions of African children orphaned or otherwise affected by HIV/AIDS. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimates 12.3 million African children have lost one or both parents to AIDS and the figure could double by 2010. Others are left caring for sick parents no longer able to provide for their families, slashing children's chances of a decent education and making them more vulnerable to abuse and prostitution, it said.
"A silent tsunami is wiping away an entire generation, leaving millions of children at risk," Emma Kundishora of Zimbabwe's Red Cross said in a statement. Aid workers have complained of waning support for their Africa programs since the massive global appeal to help victims of Asia's tsunami late last year sucked up billions of aid dollars from government and private purses. "If we do not do something today, we will lose the administrators, business leaders, workers and customers of tomorrow. We have to start investing in these children now," Kundishora said.
"Some children have terminally ill parents and therefore have to nurse them, and sometimes are sick themselves. Other children have psychological trauma," Cynthia Mpati, director of the South African government's national school nutrition program, said at the campaign's launch in Johannesburg. AIDS has orphaned more than 4 million children in Southern Africa, the epicentre of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. South Africa has the highest single caseload, with more than 5 million of its 45 million people estimated to be infected.
"If we don't prepare the children, if we don't train them... it's the future workforce which is at stake," said Françoise Le Goff, regional head of the Red Cross in Southern Africa, in a short film on the devastating effects of AIDS on children.

The Red Cross, June 15, 2005.