Access of abandoned children and orphans with HIV/AIDS to antiretroviral therapy--a legal impasse.

In 2002, 13% of children aged between 2 and 14 years in South Africa had lost a mother, a father or both parents. The Centre for Actuarial Research at the University of the Western Cape estimated that by July 2002 more than 885 000 children under the age of 18 had lost their mothers, with 38% of those deaths attributed to AIDS.' Seen in the context of South Africa's high rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission, a great number of orphaned children are likely to be living with HIV, having contracted it through birth. Although there is no research examining the impact of HIV on the number of children who have been abandoned, anecdotal evidence suggests that children's homes are seeing steep increases in the number of children requiring care, many of whom are infected.