What we do
"...support, education and opportunities in a caring and nurturing environment..."
About Mutaho"...there are hundreds children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS..."
Meet the team"We met through our mutual desire to make a difference..."
AIDS in Africa"...more than eleven million children have been orphaned by AIDS..."
Our SupportersAIDS in Africa
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has in Kenya, as in the rest of Africa, played a huge role in the economic development, or rather the economic underdevelopment of the nation. The HIV/AIDS virus is, according to Koffi Annan, is ‘causing socio-economic crisis which in turn threaten political stability’1. In Kenya, in the year 2006, HIV prevalence in people aged 15-49 years had reached 5.1% of adults this percentage is representative of almost one million people, in some areas up to 25% of adults are HIV positive2. People living in poverty, orphans, unemployed youths, and people without education are at a greater risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.
The reality facing Kenya is that the suffering and death resulting from the virus is severely impinging on her ability to become a member of the first or even the second worlds3. As HIV/AIDS kills people in the prime of their working lives, destroying the human capital built up in them over the years through child-rearing, formal education, and learning on the job4. The HIV/AIDS virus is eroding Kenya’s human resources, which means that country and therefore her people are loosing out economically. It is still likely that the Kenyan economy could be left one-sixth smaller than it would be without a high HIV prevalence by the year 20155. If the spread of the virus could be stemmed, Kenya may stand a chance of rebuilding her economy, continuing with social development becoming more a stable nation, less likely to be underdeveloped at a nation level6.
One consequence of the high HIV infection rates among women is the increasing number of children with HIV (through mother to child transmission)7. Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV is a common means through which the virus is spread with infected mothers having a 25-35% chance of passing the infection along to their children. While in wealthy countries drugs such as AZT (zidovudine) have been developed to prevent such an occurrence and will do so, this is not a luxury available to the many impoverished HIV positive mothers who could potentially infect their children8. It is estimated that there are presently some 8 million children in Africa who have lost one or both parents to HIV-related illnesses, and that by 2010 these numbers will have increased to some 40 million9.
Without the support of the Mutaho Children’s Foundation the children and your people of Mutaho and surrounding areas stand little chance of escaping the cycle of poverty leaving them vulnerable to poverty, disease and exploitation. The Mutaho Children’s Foundation hopes to reduce the children’s risk of contracting HIV/AIDS by providing the children with education, employment and training opportunities and hope for the future.
References
Amoako, K. Y., Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa on The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Growth and Poverty Reduction in Africa in his address to the Development Studies Centre Dublin, Ireland 03 February 2004 electronic transcript
http://www.uneca.org/eca_resources/Speeches/amoako/2004/ _ 020304speech_amoako.htm cited August 15, 2008
http://www.uneca.org/eca_resources/Speeches/amoako/2004/ _ 020304speech_amoako.htm cited August 15, 2008
Cohen, Desmond, “Poverty and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa “ HIV and Development Programme Issues Paper No. 27 electonic version http://www.undp.org/hiv/publications/issues/english/issue27e.html, cited August 15, 2008
Harvey, Robert, The Fall of Apartheid The Inside Story from Smuts to Mebki, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillian, 2002
Hunter, S., Who Cares? AIDS in Africa, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003
UNAIDS, Sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS Epidemic Update, 2007, http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2008/jc1526_epibriefs_ssafrica_en.pdf, cited August 15, 2008
UNSC Press Release SC/6781, p.1 in McInnes, Colin, “HIV/AIDS and Security”, International Affairs, vol. 82, no 2
[1] UNSC Press Release SC/6781, p.1 in McInnes, Colin, “HIV/AIDS and Security”, International Affairs, vol. 82, no 2, p.315
[2] UNAIDS, Sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS Epidemic Update, 2007, http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2008/jc1526_epibriefs_ssafrica_en.pdf, cited August 15, 2008, p.13
[3] Amoako, K. Y., Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa on The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Growth and Poverty Reduction in Africa in his address to the Development Studies Centre Dublin, Ireland 03 February 2004 electronic transcript http://www.uneca.org/eca_resources/Speeches/amoako/2004/ _ 020304speech_amoako.htm cited August 15, 2008
[4] Amoako, K. Y, 2004
[5] Ibid
[6] Hunter, S., Who Cares? AIDS in Africa, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003 p.22
[7]Cohen, Desmond, “Poverty and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa “ HIV and Development Programme Issues Paper No. 27 electonic version http://www.undp.org/hiv/publications/issues/english/issue27e.html, cited August 15, 2008
[8] Harvey, Robert, The Fall of Apartheid The Inside Story from Smuts to Mebki, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillian, 2002 p.166
[9] Cohen, Desmond, 2006