Orphans in northern Uganda

For all of Uganda in 2005:

Percentage of children who are orphans in 2005 14%

Number of orphans due to AIDS in 2005 1,000,000

Children orphaned by AIDS as a percentage of all orphans in 2005 45%

Percentage of children aged 12-17 who are orphans in 2005 25%

UNICEF: 'Africa's Orphaned Generations' (2003), and 'Africa's Orphaned and Vulnerable Generations: Children Affected by AIDS' (2006).

What I find especially striking is that these are 2005 numbers, representing ALL of Uganda, not simply the north. The war was not even over in 2005. So these numbers are surely higher now and especially higher in the north. There's an estimate that 20% of the total child population are orphans in Uganda. I tried a theory out on some people and no one disagreed: you cannot find one family in Acholi-land who is not caring for orphans. (This relates also to my prior post - a family will care for their own paternally-blood relatives if they are able.)

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