Making a difference for children affected by AIDS : baseline findings from operations research in Uganda

This paper reports on baseline findings from a study of two programmes for AIDS-affected children and their families implemented by PLAN International in the Luwero and Tororo districts of Uganda. One programme, referred to as orphan support, provides educational, health, and nutritional assistance as well as other services to orphans. The second programme, known as succession planning, reaches AIDS-affected children earlier, by helping HIV-positive parents prepare for their children’s future through counseling, will-writing, appointing guardians, and other measures. The study was designed to assess the impact of the orphan support programme on child wellbeing; explore the acceptability of a succession planning programme in the Ugandan context; assess the impact of succession planning on child wellbeing; and determine the impact of succession planning on adult wellbeing and on guardians' capacity to care for orphans