Children Corners or Warehouses? The Quest for Psychosocial Support to OVC’s Eric Umar College of Medicine Community Health Department
Dec 23, 2015
Children Corners or Warehouses? The Quest for Psychosocial Support
to OVC’s
Eric UmarCollege of Medicine
Community Health Department
Orphan and Vulnerable Children situation in Malawi
650,000 AIDS orphansRepresenting 65 % of Orphans
Vulnerable childrenOrphans and children on the
brink Adolescents living with HIV
Adolescent Living with HIV
The roll-out of anti-retroviral treatment programs has made it possible for perinatally infected infants to live through adolescence and adulthood
Worries about illness revolve around:Disclosing their HIV status to friendsPeople finding out that they live with HIVLiving situationsSexualityinfecting someone else with HIV
Emotional impact
Children on the brink – experience negative changes start to suffer neglect, long before they are orphaned
Suffer the death of their parent(s) – leading to emotional trauma
Adjustment challenges new situations - with little or no support
may suffer exploitation and abuse
Studies have found high levels of psychological distress in OVCs Anxiety, Depression, Anger Suicidal - wish they were dead (12 % vs 3 % in Uganda)
Psychological problems more severe when child is forced to separate from their siblings > half of orphans no longer live with all of their siblings (Zambia)
Psychosocial SupportThere is a huge need for emotional
support and counselingHelp them deal with loss, traumaAdjust to new situationsSupport them become resilientSet goals for their livesTake up new roles
Looking after siblingsTake their medication – ARVs etc
Deal with family – property grabbers
Children’s Corner
Support children cope with psychosocial problems
Establish children problems that might affect them psychosocially and intervene where possible
Limitations
Huge numbers of childrenboth orphans and non orphans come to
the corners
Disorderly nature of the activitiesDifficult to identify children with problems
Weekly meetings
Few poorly trained “facilitators”Two facilitators
Communities unable to provide food etc
Conclusions
Children corners provide some form of psychosocial support
The support is too inadequate