The AIDS epidemic is leaving many African children parentless and threatens to reverse hard-won
gains in raising school enrollments. Because in Africa HIV is transmitted primarily through heterosexual
contact, the epidemic is having a dramatic impact on the mortality of both men and women in their prime
childbearing and earning years, doubling or tripling mortality rates of adults 15-50 (Boerma et al 1998). 1
The combination of high mortality of parents and large family size on most of the continent has produced
a tragic result: one in ten children under the age of 15 is an orphan, having lost one or both parents
(Hunter and Williamson 2000).2
The loss of a parent could potentially reduce a child’s chances of
starting, continuing, or completing school: families may be unable to pay school fees; the demand for a
child’s time at home may increase; and guardians may be less motivated to invest in the child’s long-term
welfare. Child schooling has important private and social benefits, affecting a child’s long-term
productivity, earning capacity, health and well-being (see, for example, Psacharapoulos and Woodhall
1985 and Strauss and Thomas 1995).