A Generation at risk?: HIV/AIDS, vulnerable children and security in Southern Africa

Abstract

HIV/AIDS is acknowledged as an increasingly significant humanitarian and development concern. It is also increasingly seen as a security issue, with implications for the well-being of individuals, households, communities and states. Faced with the prospect of growing numbers of AIDS orphans, some analysts have speculated that large numbers or orphans could themselves represent a security challenge. It has been argued that by reducing the resources available to children and destabilizing the institutions on which they depend-such as the family, school and community-HIV/AIDS may severely affect children's development. This may not only result in increased child mortality, morbidity and school drop out, but also increased victimisation and exploitation or children. By reducing the financial and emotional resources available to children, causing trauma and alienation and effectively limiting the realistic aspirations of the youngsters affected, it is also feared that the epidemic may...