...Aids - The facts!
The Aids crisis.
The incidence of HIV and Aids, in line with other Southern African countries continues to increase. This, combined with poverty, high infant mortality and low standards of health care and education, results in an average life expectancy of a mere 36 years. These alarming statistics contribute to Malawi having one of Africa’s highest percentages of orphans (officially estimated at 850,000).
The extended families can no longer cope with the ever increasing number of babies born to mothers who die soon after or during delivery.
This is why Open Arms Infant Home provides such a vital service.
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The Orphan Problem
Pregnancy accelerates the onset of HIV / AIDS so that a high incidence of mothers die during or shortly after giving birth, leaving newborn children with no-one to feed and care for them. HIV / AIDS can be passed on to babies by their mothers either during the birthing process or through breast milk.
It is not difficult to understand that some young Malawian women who face a number of serious deficiencies including lack of medical support, distance from hospitals and contention with HIV / AIDS related diseases die during or soon after childbirth and there has been a dramatic increase in maternal death (Malawi statistics are amongst the worst in the world).
The spread of Aids, particularly among the younger generations, means that from a total population of approximately 12 million people, roughly 14% of the population has been orphaned by the loss of one or both parents - an awesome prospect for any society, particularly a poor one such as Malawi .
Traditionally an orphaned infant would have been picked up by its extended family and nurtured within it. However such has been the assault of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, combined with food shortages, growing population (resulting in the decline in educational and medical provisions) that the average family finds it difficult enough to feed its immediate members, let alone orphaned relatives.
The incidence of HIV and Aids, in line with other Southern African countries continues to increase. This, combined with poverty, high infant mortality and low standards of health care and education, results in an average life expectancy of a mere 36 years. These alarming statistics contribute to Malawi having one of Africa’s highest percentages of orphans (officially estimated at 850,000).
The extended families can no longer cope with the ever increasing number of babies born to mothers who die soon after or during delivery.
This is why Open Arms Infant Home provides such a vital service.
The Orphan Problem
It is not difficult to understand that some young Malawian women who face a number of serious deficiencies including lack of medical support, distance from hospitals and contention with HIV / AIDS related diseases die during or soon after childbirth and there has been a dramatic increase in maternal death (Malawi statistics are amongst the worst in the world).
The spread of Aids, particularly among the younger generations, means that from a total population of approximately 12 million people, roughly 14% of the population has been orphaned by the loss of one or both parents - an awesome prospect for any society, particularly a poor one such as Malawi .
Traditionally an orphaned infant would have been picked up by its extended family and nurtured within it. However such has been the assault of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, combined with food shortages, growing population (resulting in the decline in educational and medical provisions) that the average family finds it difficult enough to feed its immediate members, let alone orphaned relatives.
