Role of elderly care givers in AIDS crisis examined

A conference to discuss the role of Africa's older people in caring for orphans living with HIV/AIDS started on Wednesday in Kenya. The organisers of the conference, HelpAge International (HI), said the meeting had drawn health workers from across the continent and Britain to identify ways of increasing support to the elderly care-givers. Recent World Bank figures show that in Africa and Latin America, more than one in five orphaned children are living with their grandparents. The Agence France-Presse (AFP) news service quoted HI as saying: "Most of these children end up under the care of grandparents, [who are] living under extreme poverty that compromises their ability to provide adequately for them - and this burden will increase as the orphans increase." The NGO said it was also planning the launch of its report, "Forgotten families", which focused on the role of elderly care-givers and their urgent need for support.