10 Child vulnerability and community coping mechanisms

Abstract

In the wider literature regarding the impact of HIV/AIDS on children, many empirical studies have discussed child vulnerability as a general condition that requires intervention through appropriate responses (Hunter and Williamson 1998, 2000; UNICEF and UNAIDS 1999, 2005; UNAIDS 2000). These studies have identified factors that influence African children’s vulnerability to the pandemic and they include poverty resulting from economic constraints and the lack of material support in the hardest hit communities. Most importantly, research has consistently identified the extended family’s inability to cope with the increasing numbers of vulnerable orphans because of inadequate resources within the family (Foster 2000; Luzze 2002; Nyambedha et al. 2003a; Mann 2002). These studies have been valuable in shedding light on the problems faced by children affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and have helped increase national and international response to the needs of vulnerable children. In some respects, the studies of child vulnerability resulting from the HIV/AIDS pandemic have created the general assumption that children who lose parents face similar problems and therefore require uniform interventions. At a very general level, this assumption is defensible to many people who study and design the interventions aimed at cushioning the impact of HIV/AIDS on children. However, recent studies have revealed that child vulnerability in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic is highly diverse and multifaceted (Young and Ansell 2003; Yamba 2005; Nyambedha 2006, 2007). This revelation is important because most of these studies …