HIV and AIDS can affect children in the following ways:

• Where they are infected from birth or from sexual abuse
• Where their parents have HIV or AIDS and they have to live with the illness and loss
• Where they have to live with the illness and loss of friends, teachers, and other family members.

Children who have HIV or whose parents are ill because of HIV or AIDS are often shunned and discriminated against by people in the community. Many suffer from neglect or are abandoned as babies. There are many examples of children being refused access to crèches, schools and bursaries. Orphans of parents who have died from AIDS are particularly vulnerable and many survive in child-headed households. Many of them turn to crime, drugs, or the streets in order to survive.