HIV / AIDS Programmes
 


Hospice - one of the HIV hospice wards in Hulene (Maputo). The hospice has a total of 80 beds - 40 for men and 40 for women - it is full !!!

Children born to infected women may have only 30% chance of being infected but they have close to a 100% chance of being orphaned.

AIDS affected households tend to be poorer, consuming less food and with smaller disposable income ... children in these households are usually less well nourished and have a greater chance of being stunted or wasted.

The unmeasured consequences for the orphan generation are of great concern. We are talking about unsocialised, uneducated and in many cases, unloved children struggling to adulthood. The cost to them as individuals remains unmeasured.

HIV / AIDS will create massive problems in Mozambique. Imagine is working with local authorities and institutions providing HIV / AIDS care, preventative education, care within the community and care for the dying. This has included acquiring funding for what is believed to be the first adult AIDS hospice in Mozambique.
Although Mozambique avoided an "early start" to the HIV / AIDS problem, mainly because the war limited travel and movement of people, the forecasts are frightening.

These include :-
HIV Prevalence Rate (estimate - 2000), 17.4% in Maputo district - approximate estimate of over 1,200,000 people.
Life expectancy by 2010 - without AIDS, 50.3 years - with AIDS, 35.9 years.
Child mortality will increase by 20%.
Maternal mortality will increase by 20% Approx.
Life expectancy after contracting HIV (assuming no available retroviral drugs)
Adults - 10 years,
Children (at birth), 5 years.
Orphans Total resulting from parental AIDS 2001 - 420,000
Estimate resulting from parental AIDS by 2009 - 1,100,000
Other comments noted during our investigations include :-
AIDS is generating orphans so quickly that family structures can no longer cope.
Half of all people living with HIV become infected before they turn 25, acquiring AIDS and dying by the time they reach 35.


The costs to the wider society are potentially enormous.

In extreme cases .... orphans turn to the street where their physical needs and financial desperation make them vulnerable to crime, substance abuse and sexual exploitation. AIDS orphans attend schools less than other orphans and are more likely to drop out than others. Societies (affected by HIV / AIDS) remain poor and will be further impoverished by the epidemic. Long term effects have to be imagined as one and possibly two generations of children grow up with inadequate care.

Imagine is now working in the large impoverished community of Catembe, with local authorities, social services and the national AIDS council.
This project is to provide family homes for children orphaned by AIDS or having HIV / AIDS.

We also aim to support grandparents who often are the only adults left from a family and who have to take on a parental role for their grandchildren.

An important element of this project is the development of the Catembe community as a whole. We feel that the fight against AIDS must include eradication of poverty and the causes of poverty. As such the project includes creation of schools, training establishments, community welfare support, sustainable business ventures and health care centres.

A vital element to this project will be the input provided by volunteer workers and building works will include facilities to house up to 7 volunteers.

Read the Catembe Project Summary

 

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