GAC Co-Hosts World AIDS Orphans Day Briefing
By 2010, 20 million children will have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. Millions more will be orphaned by tuberculosis, malaria, war, or will have parents who are sick and dying. The impact of the HIV/AIDS and other crises is jeopardizing the wellbeing of a generation of children, leaving them without parents, basic healthcare, education, or social and legal protection. Key members of Congress, Global Action for Children, and representatives of other leading nongovernmental organizations held a breakfast briefing on May 7 to commemorate World AIDS Orphans Day, to honor the struggle of the millions of children impacted by HIV/AIDS, and to consider the steps necessary to strengthen the global fight to protect children orphaned and made vulnerable by the pandemic. The briefing was sponsored by Representatives Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Chris Shays (R-CT). In her welcoming remarks, Representative McCollum noted the solemnity of the day, stating that "We are celebrating and remembering some of the most vulnerable children in the world. We can help them if we have the political will to stand up for them." She also highlighted the important role played by nongovernmental organizations in securing action to benefit orphans and vulnerable children. "I look forward to your help and your leadership as this Congress moves forward...to provide a future to those in this world who find themselves orphaned," she added. Representative Betty McCollum welcomes attendees; moderator Jennifer Delaney opens the session. Remarks of other members of Congress echoed similar sentiments. Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA), a long-time AIDS activist, urged action, noting that "now, we must work on orphans because we have the capacity to deal with the whole issue of prevention and to keep people alive." Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY), the Chair of the subcommittee that oversees foreign aid funding, offered her support to those in the room remarking, "the work you do is so important." Representatives Nita Lowey and Jim McDermott expressed their thanks and support to those working to help orphans and vulnerable children. The Need to Reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief World AIDS Orphans Day comes at a critical juncture for foreign aid: the reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), after making its way through the House of Representatives, has stalled before coming to the full Senate. The need to reinvigorate the reauthorization process and fully fund the bill was commented on by a number of speakers. "Nothing has made me prouder to be an American than watching what PEPFAR has done… and while PEPFAR has done better than any initiative in history, I think we can do better," said Dr. Jim Yong Kim, Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health and a presenter at the briefing. Dr. Kim stressed the need to not only reauthorize PEPFAR, but to do so at the proposed $50 billion level, as he presented preliminary findings from the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and AIDS (http://www.jlica.org/). Dr. Kim’s findings support the notion that the best method of providing assistance to orphaned and vulnerable children is by supporting the families and communities that care for them. Albina du Boisrouvray, Founder and President of the Association François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB International), also emphasized during her remarks the need to support children by supporting families and communities, and enumerated ways in which such support could be provided. "We need to request that the U.S. consider supporting social protection and intervention; cash transfers, family support and alternative care. Please take another look at supporting such initiatives," she urged policymakers. Providing Social Protection for Vulnerable Children Providing financial support to the families caring for orphans and vulnerable children was a common theme running throughout the briefing, yet the speakers noted that care must be taken in administering such programs. Diana Aubourg Millner, Director of Save Africa’s Children, stated during her presentation that, "We need not only to ensure that resources are authorized, but it is equally important that we make sure those resources are targeted and reaching sustainable efforts." Du Boisrouvray noted she believes cash transfers can help focus the funds allocated through PEPFAR. "Cash transfers are an investment in people that brings a return to the people. It enables people underneath the poverty line to be able to become sustainable participants in the local economy and then, they can access micro loans," she said. Strengthening Communities Jennifer Delaney, Executive Director of Global Action for Children, and moderator of the session, reiterated sentiments expressed by all of the speakers in regards to the need to keep orphaned children in a community, not isolated in orphanages. "A common theme today is the importance of keeping children in their communities. We needs to ask ourselves "What would you want for your own child?" Would it be an orphanage that could offer a better material existence: bed, nice clothes, and meals; or to be cared for with a bit less, but with the love of your mother or grandmother in their community? We must help support communities so that children can remain with extended families." Looking ahead to what must occur to ultimately resolve the crisis facing these millions of orphans and vulnerable children, Diana Millner remarked that, in the African context, the poorest communities simply do not have the resources to support themselves internally, and stressed the importance of understanding the role of these communities in crisis. In conclusion, all speakers called for the Senate to promptly take up the reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and for Congress to fully fund it at $50 billion. Once this happens, the United States will invest an unprecedented level of $730 million in international programs that support orphans and vulnerable children. This is money desperately needed on the ground in communities hardest-hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. 
