Our Context of Ministry

AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa
According to the Wrld Health Organisation, over 22 million (of the 34 million) AIDS-related deaths have occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, destroying 17% of the workforce, and slowing economic development. In 2007 alone, 1.8 million Africans died from the disease. Over the next decade, we will see the greatest numbers of deaths from the disease.

Things are the worst at the southern end of Africa. Swaziland has the highest HIV percentage in the world (well over 30%). If you are a 16-year-old Swazi, the statistical probability of you reaching age 30 is only 10%. Botswana and Lesotho are right behind with 28.9% and 28.2% infection rates respectively.

South Africa has an official infection rate of 23.4%; those giving medical care say it is closer to 40%. Due to the large population in the country, South Africa has the highest AIDS-infected population in the world (10.5 million people), and the highest number of AIDS orphans (2.8 million of the total of 3.7 million orphans). Every day, more than 1,000 adults die of AIDS-related illness in South Africa. The funeral business is booming. It is hoped and believed that southern Africa will soon reach its peak of AIDS-related deaths.

AIDS is no longer a disease of gays, prostitutes, and drug users; it is affecting everyone. One of the saddest statistics is that most of the people dying now from the pandemic are women and children. Many of these women have been morally upright, but have been infected by unfaithful husbands or those committing rape, and children have contracted HIV from their mothers or due to rape.

In one town in South Africa, 20% of those who did not consider themselves at risk were already infected, and that was in 2000, a long time ago as far as the history of the disease goes. A short-term American missionary who volunteered in a pop-up health-testing center in 2006, privately evaluated blood samples he had taken and was emotionally overcome when he found that over 95% of those tested were HIV positive.

AIDS Orphans Statistics
The Term OVC: When one is working in the field of AIDS orphans, it is important to be aware of the term OVC, meaning "orphans and vulnerable children." An orphan is legally defined as a child whose parents have both died before his or her 18th birthday, but practically defined as a child whose mother has died before the child's 15th birthday (often the mother has been the child's only care-giver, and the child begins to work by age 15).

But there are many other children just as bad off, just as vulnerable. A child may have lost only one parent, but if they have never known or don't have access to the other parent, they face the same risks that orphans do. Another child's mother may be alive but sick with an AIDS-related illness, the father and grandfather are dead, and the grandmother is an alcoholic. These children are just as vulnerable.

How Many Are There? No one knows how many orphans are out there due to AIDS, particularly in African nations where record-keeping is not a strong point, and rural information-gathering is difficult. Surveys use differing criteria, come up with differing results, and then there are arguments. According to the United Nations (which uses older and conservative numbers), in sub-Saharan Africa in 2008, the 22 million AIDS-related deaths had left an estimated 12.8 million orphans behind. Estimates are that by 2010 the number will have climbed to 18 million, and by 2015, there will be almost 40 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa. These numbers are very difficult to grasp.

In South Africa alone, the estimated number of orphans is now around 3.7 million. There are over 16 million children in the country, so orphans could represent almost 1 in 4 children. Over 2,000 children are newly orphaned per week; this means that each hour, an average of 12 children lose a parent to AIDS. Over 1,000 adults are dying of AIDS-related illnesses each day in South Africa. By 2015, this country will have an estimated 5 million orphans among a population of 38 million people.