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Orphans and Vulnerable Children in South Africa

The UCLA Program in Global Health partners with the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), a branch of the South African government, to conduct its work addressing orphans and other vulnerable children in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa's most populous province. We are working with Dr. Linda Richter, an internationally renowned child clinical psychologist whose special emphasis is orphans and vulnerable children, and who is the Executive Director of Child, Youth, Family and Social Development for HSRC.

South Africa is considered a "middle income" country, yet the 30% of South African households that contain 60% of South African's children are in extreme poverty. Children raised in such circumstances, including orphans, have limited access to education, health, and nutrition. Our project in KwaZulu-Natal will go out into the most impoverished communities, identify the most vulnerable children, and link them to services so that they can get the resources they need.

One purpose of the initiative is a study to test an intervention, entitled "income and services support for highly vulnerable children and families in the context of HIV/AIDS and poverty". It attempts to answer fundamental questions that address how to scale-up sustainable support for children and families affected by HIV and AIDS.