HIV/AIDS has had a profound impact on communities around Livingstone. It lies on a major transport route and truckers are stopping along this Southern Africa road to rest, eat a meal and have sex. 37% of the population in the area is infected with HIV.
This leaves children extremely vulnerable in several ways: first, one or both of their parents may be sick and dying and the children may no longer be eating properly or attending school as the wage-earner cannot work; second, the oldest girl child typically becomes the caretaker for the sick parent as well as her younger siblings; third there is stigma and isolation as neighbors understand the household’s affliction; fourth, the girl child may seek ways to supplement household finances by accepting sexual advances from older men.
Indeed many girls have had sex by the age of 10, and they are at highest risk of contracting HIV. Pregnancy in very young girls can be especially dangerous for mother and baby.
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