As women become infected and die of AIDS, they leave children behind.  In 1998, there were 67,000 American children under the age of 18, mostly children of color, who had lost their mothers to the AIDS epidemic.  More than half of these children were 12 or younger.⁽¹⁾ 

Most of these orphans were not infected with HIV.  Some were born before their mothers became HIV-positive.  Others were born free of HIV, even though they were born after their mothers were infected.

Some of the deceased mothers of these orphans never injected drugs at all.  Others did inject drugs.  However, we should not assume that, had these mothers lived, they would not have been good parents. Women who inject drugs at one point in their lives are not necessarily drug users for life.  Some experiment for only a short time; others use drugs for longer periods and then stop successfully. 

Children need their parents.  We need to be following policies which ensure that as few children as possible are orphaned by AIDS.

Footnote

(1) The estimate takes into account the deaths to AIDS-infected children, so the estimate refers only to children alive in 1998.  Personal communication from David Michaels based on his article, "Estimates of the Number of Motherless Youth Orphaned by AIDS in the United States," Journal of the American Medical Association,  December 23/30, 1992, vol. 268, no. 24.  UNAIDS estimates that, by the end of 1999, 70,000 U.S. children under the age of 15 had lost their mother or both parents to AIDS.  This estimate covers the entire period of the epidemic in the U.S., so some of the orphaned children included in the cumulative total are no longer alive; others are no longer under age 15.  See UNAIDS. 2000. Global estimates of the HIV/AIDS epidemic as of end 1999. June. Table of country-specific HIV/AIDS estimates and data.

For a list of other materials used on this website, see References.