ABSTRACT
The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to ravage sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): at least 40 million people are infected. Children will be the most affected as a result of HIV/AIDS as they live with sick relatives in households stressed by the drain on their resources. They will be left emotionally and physically vulnerable by the illness or death of one or both parents. Children, and especially girls, who have lost one or both parents are more likely to be removed from school, to stay home to care for the sick and to be pulled into the informal economy to supplement lost income.
