OVC population to double in 15 years

The number of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Namibia is expected to double over the next 15 years, a new UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) survey has warned. AIDS, food insecurity and a weak social support network pose a triple threat that is expected to push the number of OVC aged under 15 from 120,000 to around 250,000 by the year 2021, according to the survey. "These threats rob Namibian children of their well-being and security and, ultimately, their lives," noted the report, which formed part of a supplement on Namibia released along with UNICEF's State of the World's Children Report last week. Vulnerability is so pervasive in Namibia that only 26 percent of children live with both parents, the agency found. The OVC, who will make up 10 percent of the country's projected population of 2.5 million in 2021, live mostly in the more densely populated north-central regions, and Okavango and Caprivi in northeastern Namibia. Acting UNICEF country representative Rushnan Murtaza said inadequate protection of children deprived them of family support and led to exploitation, contributing to their exclusion from society making them "invisible". "Some of the serious threats in Namibia are the lack of psychosocial support due to the absence of mothers; inadequate parenting skills of fathers; helplessness of grandparents in caring for orphans," Murtaza commented. Forty percent of Namibians are aged below 15, but a third of them do not even have a birth certificate, which often prevents them from enrolling for school and accessing support services and government grants. The report urged Namibia's ministry of home affairs to investigate ways of improving the registration of births, particularly in rural areas. "Interventions for OVC need to be seen in the context of rural and economic development for reducing the impact of AIDS on families and communities," the survey recommended, "and not just as a social welfare support." Some things have improved: during school terms the government provides meals five times a week to over 100,000 primary school pupils through the national school-feeding programme. The number of children receiving government grants has more than tripled in the past three years. "We have 37,717 orphans and vulnerable children [compared to 9,740 in 2003] on our data base receiving maintenance payments and benefiting from foster parent grants," said Marlene Mungunda, Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare at the launch of the reports.