HIV/AIDS Orphans' Education in Uganda The Changing Role of Older People

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in most sub-Saharan African countries has created a crisis in the African family structure. In Uganda, older people's roles have been reversed from being provided for to providers. Older people, who are already poor, face the loss of economic support from their adult children and unexpected social, psychological and economic burden due to the care-giving role they assume. In this study, we used cross-sectional data from Kayunga district in Central Uganda to examine the impact of HIV/AIDS on the role of older persons. We found that there were HIV/AIDS related deaths in 82.3% of the surveyed households. In almost 34% of the households, the caregivers of HIV/AIDS orphans were older people over 50 years old. Almost all households headed by older people (97.8%) had on average three school-going orphaned children living in the household.