Rise in City orphans because of Aids

By Tando Mfengwana
08 October 2006

In the past five years, the number of orphans and vulnerable children has increased by 20% because of the HIV/Aids pandemic.

Child care organisations and social workers in the Khayelitsha and Gugulethu areas of Cape Town are struggling to cope with the influx of children being orphaned.

West Cape News reports that the high case loads and backlogs, together with the shortage of care facilities, aggravated the problem.

The high number of HIV infected mothers in the regions led to a high death rate, which subsequently leads to an rise in orphaned children, said the chief executive of Cape Town Child Welfare, Niresh Ramklass.

The report says that a provincial HIV antenatal survey showed that the rate of infections among pregnant women in Khayelitsha and Gugulethu rose by 33 percent and 29 percent in that order, attending Western Cape public clinics.


One of five Khayelitsha based Child Welfare social workers Nolitha Luningo is quoted as saying that she had seen a definite increase in the number of children in the last five years. Nolitha said this is because of the ravages of HIV/Aids.

Luningo said that 65 of the 74 cases she has been presently focusing on had been orphaned due to HIV/Aids.

The report says that Ina Vermeulen the Cape Town Child Welfare direct service manager, who is responsible for the areas of Gugulethu, Athlone and Manenberg, said that in Gugulethu the organisation has a backlog of 280 cases of children on its files that are either in emergency homes or with relatives while waiting permanent foster care.