The theme that was put out by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child is very appealing to all that appreciate the problems faced by any child in Africa now.
Like ever before, every African child faces real life challenges. However, orphans and other vulnerable Children (OVC) face hard trials. These children do not only face hardships at home but also find it extremely had to access social services such as health and education. The OVC children therefor leave in harsh conditions, the have great psychosocial needs that go unmet and them also live an attitude of despair and hopelessness. These children include the orphans, those who live on the streets, those that toil under exploitative conditions of labour as well as those that suffer abuses and all forms of discrimination.
Among these categories of children is a special group who are the sole caregivers of the homes. According to the statistics on the website of the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development (OVCMiS), Over 32,130 children between the ages of 10 to 17 head households in Uganda. Such children have the responsibility of fending for their own survival, for their siblings and sometimes for the survival of their very sick or dying guidance or parents. They go through numerous hurdles to survive and to make 'their' families survive. they do hard labour, they sterve, they are sexulally harrased by merciless employers, they are flogged, they are cheated and many other things!
In Uganda, like in the rest of the sub Saharan Africa, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has greatly contributed to the huge numbers of this special group of children. The situation has also been exasperated by the increasing incidence of the numerous Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) like cancer. It should also be noted that the design of numerous social economic interventions for the poor do not always mainstream the plight of this special group of children. Such children for example may be forced to drop out of school because they cannot afford the very basic necessities such as clothing let alone simple stationery like books to use at school.
Due to the continuous breakdown of social ties and the extended family system, the problem of high numbers of child headed homes is expected to keep raising. The social safety nets that included close relatives taking on the care of children in case of the passing of parents continue to dwindle yet the disease burden continues to raise.
There is therefore need for all government and civil society actor program interventions to mainstream the child headed homes. Programs such as Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) need to have special focus on this special group. It is important to note that HIV/AIDS programs have integrated care for OVC. It is important that cancer care and other interventions such as palliative care also focus on a holistic approach to integrate care for the needs of the OVC.
Leaving child headed homes behind while designing and implementing health, education and social economic programs only serves to entrench the dire discrimination that these children face. There is need for deliberate call to action in support of child headed homes that have become part and parcel of our society. Integrating the needs of these homes in programing will serve to rebuild the social fabric.
