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CHALLENGES |
Poverty Status of Orphan and non-Orphan Children
The data available to us demonstrates that 77% of maternal orphans live below the poverty line and 75% of paternal orphans live below the poverty line
The overall level of poverty in rural areas is significantly higher than urban areas in Zambia. The Zambia Human Development Report indicates that 83% of the rural population lives below the poverty line whereas 46% of urban residents (the majority of the Zambian population) fall below the poverty line. However, there is little notable distinction between the urban and rural poverty levels of orphan and non-orphan children. The data continues to support the fact that children in Zambia are economically disadvantaged and poverty is a real issue facing the majority of households.
Primary Care Giver
Almost half of orphans reside in a household headed by a surviving parent or guardian. The national statistics indicate that grandparents and aunts/uncles look after 35% of orphans. In most cases, orphans and other vulnerable children are as a result of parents who have died from HIV/AIDS related complications.
A greater percentage of orphans are looked after by grandparents who are in their retirement age. This development causes some serious concerns because as these grandparents begin to die of old ages, the fate of the already orphaned children will dramatically worsen.
An even more disturbing development is that a significant number of school-aged children, both orphans and non-orphans, are not attending school due to serious economic pressures faced by their aged guardians. If the current negative economic trend continues, it is probable that in the near future more families will be unable to send their children to school and a greater percentage of these children will grow up without the benefits of a primary education.
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