Number Of Grandparents Caring For Orphaned Grandchildren Worldwide Doubles In Ten Years, UK

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Article Date: 30 Sep 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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New research conducted by the Help the Aged Sponsor a Grandparent programme reveals that the number of grandparents caring for AIDS orphans in developing countries has doubled over the last ten years.1

Today, more grandparents than ever before are the sole carers of their grandchildren with up to half of the world's 15 million AIDS orphans being cared for by a grandparent2.

The findings also reveal that if this trend continues at a constant rate, the number of grandparents responsible for AIDS orphans will double again by 2015.3

In the developing world, millions of poverty stricken grandparents are struggling to keep themselves and the children in their care alive. Most will battle through gruelling days and nights. Lacking food, sleep and medicine for themselves, grandparents are forced to work in physically demanding jobs, carry out heavy domestic tasks and nurse sick grandchildren. Without support, their lives and the lives of those in their care are at risk.

Current United Nations data on HIV&AIDS excludes people over the age of 49 and ignores the essential role of carers over this age.4 Additionally, gaping holes in the provision of international aid for older people results in the needs of older carers going underreported and overlooked.5

In the developing world, the middle generation is being wiped out due to a number of different reasons including, AIDS, violent conflict, urban migration and climate change-related disasters.

World Bank studies have found that in 20 out of 28 countries in Africa and Latin America, more than one-fifth of orphaned children are living with their grandparents.6 In conflict ridden Sudan, almost a third of older displaced people living in camps are caring for orphans with no visible means of supporting them.7 While in Vietnam, where more than 100 Vietnamese become infected with HIV every day, the burden of care is increasingly likely to fall upon older carers.8

In 31 countries struck by poverty, disease and disaster the Help the Aged Sponsor a Grandparent programme is responding to this spiralling crisis.

The programme provides emergency and long term financial, emotional, medical and educational support to over 30,000 grandparents and their families and helps empower them to build sustainable communities for the future. Along with providing disaster relief including basic essentials such as food, clothing, medicine and shelter, the Sponsor a Grandparent programme provides long-term assistance such as counselling, grants for school fees, training on HIV prevention and loans to set up income-generating activities.

Marking its 35th anniversary this October, the Charity is appealing for the public to sponsor a grandparent this Grandparent's Day (5 October).

As David Clark, International Manager for Help the Aged, explains,

"These findings highlight the silent explosion of the number of grandparents fighting to keep their grandchildren alive. Unrecorded, unrecognised and unsupported these older people, many in their 80s and 90s, will struggle on less than a dollar a day to feed newborns, nurse sick toddlers and put children through school.

"Throughout their tireless battle, many grandparents tell us their greatest fear is not knowing what will happen to their grandchildren once they have gone. By sponsoring a grandparent this Grandparent's Day, you'll not only help save the life of an older person today, you'll help keep a family together to save the generation of tomorrow."

Help the Aged is encouraging people to Sponsor a Grandparent this Grandparent's Day by calling 020 7239 1983 or visiting http://www.sponsoragrandparent.org.uk People can also make a one-off donation to the Charity's international work by calling 020 7239 1983.

Notes

- Later in the year the Charity will present a signed petition to the Secretary of State for International Development, to call on the Government to press the UN to include older people in all of the core UNGASS indicators used to track international progress in tackling the HIV&AIDS epidemic.

- Sponsor a Grandparent is run by Help the Aged and HelpAge International. The scheme supports over 30,000 older people in developing countries every year. If you make a regular donation each month, you will receive a personal report twice a year from an individual whose community you will be supporting. The money raised helps older people establish small businesses, care for dependants or buy food, clothing and medical attention.

1. Help the Aged calculated figures, 2008, based on UNAIDS/WHO 2007 AIDS epidemic update. State of the World's Children, UNICEF 2007. CHILDREN ORPHANED BY AIDS Front-line responses from eastern and southern Africa, UNAIDS and UNICEF, 2000

2. Help the Aged calculated figures, 2008, based on UNAIDS/WHO 2007 AIDS epidemic update. State of the World's Children, UNICEF 2007. CHILDREN ORPHANED BY AIDS Front-line responses from eastern and southern Africa, UNAIDS and UNICEF, 2000

3. Help the Aged estimated figures, 2008, based on UNAIDS/WHO 2007 AIDS epidemic update. State of the World's Children, UNICEF 2007. CHILDREN ORPHANED BY AIDS Front-line responses from eastern and southern Africa, UNAIDS and UNICEF, 2000

4. (UNGASS indicators: where are the over-50s? Help Age International 2008)

Recent World Bank studies found that in 20 out of 28 countries in Africa and Latin America, more than one-fifth of orphaned children were living with their grandparents.

5. HelpAge International, 'Rebuilding lives in longer-term emergencies', 22 November 2006

6. Forgotten Families, Older People as Carers of Orphans and Vulnerable Children, HelpAge International and International HIV/AIDS Alliance, 2003.

7. HelpAge International, 'Rebuilding lives in longer-term emergencies', 22 November 2006

8. UNAIDS Vietnam, Vietnam News, 30 November 2007

Help The Aged