Reports to Congress
ADF's 2004 annual performance report is
now available. DOWNLOAD>>
hiv/aids mitigation
ADF is helping families and communities affected by HIV/AIDS develop essential income-generating activities to mitigate the local social and economic impact of the epidemic.
ADF's HIV/AIDS Mitigation Program
HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation has emerged as a central feature of effective development outreach in sub-Saharan Africa. Africa is, by far, the world region worst affected by HIV/AIDS, and the pandemic continues to deepen and widen. More than 70 percent of all cases worldwide are found on the continent, and all but one of the 25 most affected countries are in Africa. Seven African countries now have an HIV infection rate that exceeds 20 percent of the population. Last year, 3.5 million more Africans became infected, about 7 new people every minute.
Millions of people, thousands of communities, and numerous national economies have been ravaged by AIDS. Daunting statistics only begin to tell the story of devastation.
Almost 30 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa were living with the virus at the end of 2002, including ten million young people (aged 15-24) and almost 3 million children under 15. Two-thirds of the young people living with AIDS are female.
AIDS has already claimed the lives of more than 20 million Africans, including an estimated 2.4 million last year alone. Eighty percent were in the prime of life.
The pandemic has orphaned more than 11 million children in Africa. By 2010, an estimated 20 million children will have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS and, in four African countries with the highest infection rates, one in five children will be orphans.
In addition to its tremendous toll on life, AIDS has had a devastating economic impact at the family, community, and national levels in Africa. It has destroyed traditional economic and social safety nets, made orphanages necessary as a new phenomenon in some societies, rendered many families destitute, undermined increases in productivity, threatened the viability of development investments, and overburdened already strained government budgets.
Mitigation efforts are vitally important in reducing the economic and social consequences of the pandemic. Experience in Uganda and Senegal shows that African-driven prevention programs can be effective in reducing the infection rate.
Because ADF works at the grassroots where there is a dearth of AIDS information and services, in FY 2001 ADF began to include a small HIV/AIDS education and prevention component with its MSE and micro-credit projects. Then, in FY 2002, the Foundation launched a pilot program of small grants - up to $75,000 and eighteen months long - to support innovative, community-based activities to mitigate the social and economic impact of AIDS.
By fostering innovative, local solutions to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS and mitigate its impact, the Foundation is directly contributing to the U.S. policy priority to combat the pandemic in Africa.