| Abstract: | The impacts of HIV/AIDS, in Africa in general, and
sub Sahara Africa including Ethiopia, in
particular, is tremendous. In most countries inclu
ding Ethiopia, OVC infected and affected by
HIV are among community members who need essential
care and support services
.
Despite the
efforts exerted by stakeholders that have been invo
lved in providing care and support services,
one could not be naïve to assume that the problems
associated with HIV and AIDS or even OVC
have been controlled. Yet, in countries such as Eth
iopia, the effort that communities exert to
combat and address the problem and extent of the re
sponse has not been fully documented. This
thesis begins to address this gap in existing schol
arship by presenting the prevailing community
response, structures, particularly roles, challenge
s and prospects/opportunities of HIV/AIDS
committee. Its purpose is to collect and analyze da
ta on the responses of community and roles of
HIV/AIDS committee in the provision of care and sup
port with special emphasis on roles and
responsibilities of HIV/AIDS committee in caring or
phan and vulnerable children infected and
affected by the HIV/AIDS
. The study was conducted in Fitche town of North S
hewa Zone of Oromia
Regional State. The methods employed are both quant
itative and qualitative, utilizing data collection
techniques such as interviews with key informants d
rawn from GOs and NGOs, focus group discussion
with OVC caregivers and HIV/AIDS committee members.
Self administered questionnaires were filled-out
by OVC. The research methods also include two case
interviews with OVC and field observation. The
main findings suggest that HIV/AIDS problem of OVC
is relatively high in the study area, but response
to
the problem is low. HIV/AIDS and poverty are the ma
in factors that attribute to the vulnerability and
problems of OVC and their caregivers. OVC and their
caregivers live in abject poverty and are unable t
o
meet their basic needs. The extended family and loc
al HIV/AIDS projects are the main providers of care
and support to OVC in the community. Nevertheless,
some initiatives, mainly donors’ support, exist. Th
e
types of care and support provisions are mainly edu
cational materials; other services critical minimum
services are not, generally, provided adequately. T
he main challenges that encountered in providing ca
re
and support to OVC care and support are stigma and
discrimination, poverty and lack of adequate
knowledge in OVC guideline and unclarity on the rol
es and responsibilities of the HIV/AIDS committee.
Iv
The research demonstrated that involving OVC as par
tners in the effort of alleviating their
problems is crucial. It suggests building the capac
ity of community members to care and support
and strengthening local responses is part of the pr
ocess. The study concludes that provision of
care and support given by local projects has to con
tinue and other new projects are necessary as
the number of OVC is increasing at a faster rate th
an the community response. The study also
revealed that care and support alone does not allev
iate OVC problems in the community unless
the long lasting and sustainable well being of chil
dren is secured. Some of these approaches
would be community development, community empowerme
nt, and community assessment,
resource mobilization that should be taken critical
ly and analyzed before designing a certain
community-based intervention programs focusing OVC |
