Tackling the lasting legacy of AIDS in Rwanda

01 December 11

As the world marks World AIDS Day today, the international spotlight will be on Rwanda, which has been commended for having achieved universal access to vital medication to control HIV.

In its annual report released in the run up to World AIDS Day, UNAIDS has named Rwanda as one of only three countries in sub-Saharan Africa to have achieved universal access to antiretroviral  therapy (ARV) - powerful drugs which suppress the HIV virus, preventing it developing into AIDS for many years. Widespread access to ARV for HIV positive people considerably reduces AIDS-related deaths and has also been shown to reduce the risk of the virus being passed on to partners, or to children.

While Rwanda appears to be on course for tackling AIDS-related deaths and reducing new infections, we are working with the Government to address the lasting legacy of the disease on the nation's children. UNICEF estimates that there are 130,000 children orphaned by AIDS in Rwanda and up to a further 190,000 people living with HIV. HIV/AIDS also exacerbates the problems caused by poverty, destablising families and leaving children vulnerable to abandonment. As a result children are often abandoned to institutions, condemned to a life without hope or the love of a family.

We work in communities in Rwanda, and across our country programmes, to support families at risk of breaking apart by providing access to healthcare, training and education. We also work to set up family-based alternatives to institutions for those children who are orphaned.

Latifa, 12, is one of the many children in Rwanda orphaned by AIDS. When her mother died, Latifa and her siblings were placed in the Mpore PEFA institution in Kigali, Rwanda. In the film below Latifa explains how her life has been transformed since we intervened to find a loving family for her and her siblings.

Now a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa, Rwanda was once among the worst affected countries. Within three years of the country's first confirmed case in 1983, prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Rwanda hit 17.8% among the urban population and 1.3% among the rural population. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 worsened this situation as a campaign of sexual violence and rape against women increased the risk of infection. Over two thirds of the women survivors who were raped during the genocide were infected with HIV as a result. Added to this, it is widely accepted that HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects women in sub-Saharan Africa leaving many children motherless. Data from 1996, the first available following the genocide, showed that the proportion of the urban population suffering with HIV/AIDS had increased to more than 1 in 4 people.

Read more about our work in Rwanda, and across all our country programmes.