UA Professor Studies Second Epidemic that Creates AIDS Orphans

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A University of Alabama health studies specialist has found that within the AIDS crisis across the Deep South there is a second epidemic affecting the children of those who suffer with the deadly virus.

According to recent research by Dr. Bronwen Lichtenstein, more than one-fourth of children parented by someone with HIV/AIDS have become “AIDS orphans.” The total number of children orphaned during the epidemic is higher.

Lichtenstein, associate professor of sociology at UA, was asked to look into the epidemic by a fellow member of the Alabama Governor’s Task Force on HIV/AIDS. The number of pregnant women who were HIV-positive was cause for concern. Lichtenstein used social work files at a public HIV clinic as well as obituaries and data from a statewide survey to determine the number of children who are orphaned or at risk of being orphaned.

The children at most risk were those of African-American mothers. According to Lichtenstein’s research, the CDC reported in 2004 that one-third of all new cases of HIV are among African-American women. In some rural counties, the HIV rate among African-American women is much higher. Due to the social structure of the region, many adults are uneducated about HIV/AIDS. In a 2004 executive order, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley cited that poverty levels in the Black Belt counties in the region are among the top 13 percent of the poorest counties nationally.

In her article, “Little Needles, Big Haystack: Orphans of HIV/AIDS in the Deep South,” recently published in the Journal of HIV/AIDS Prevention in Children & Youth, Lichtenstein discusses the secrecy in the community about AIDS.

According to the article, the AIDS stigma prevents many people from disclosing their status as HIV/AIDS-infected to their families. “The stigma meant that parents did not always disclose their HIV-positive status to children for privacy reasons, and they also wished to protect their children from undue anxiety,” Lichtenstein noted in the journal.

The stress of dealing with the disease is overwhelming for both the child and the infected parent, Lichtenstein adds. In a separate study of some 29 women infected with HIV/AIDS, she found that almost 70 percent of the women also suffered from clinical depression.

According to her research, children in Alabama who are HIV-positive receive special care from agencies, whereas children who lose a parent to HIV do not. Currently, there are very few social services in place for the families who lose a parent to AIDS. Most children are not aware that their parent has AIDS. The parent often does not include children on check lists for social services or health care, the researcher found.

The article also cites the lack of social services available to children who are orphaned by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. While social services are available to those children who are infected with HIV/AIDS, they are often not available to children who lose a parent to the epidemic.

Lichtenstein suggests a system that would “facilitate direct referrals by social workers or health providers to the legal advocates charged with administering the Americans with Disabilities Act.” Lichtenstein goes on to say, “This pipeline would help to reduce the invisibility of the children to service providers and may even help prevent future problems, such as the children themselves being at risk of HIV/AIDS.”