Breakdown in parenting is a cause of child HIV/AIDS in Uganda

Submitted by Linda Lilian (owamazima) about 10 months ago

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In Kabarole and Kamwenge Districts in Uganda, some homes contain unsupervised children. Meanwhile in the capital Kampala, city children roam the streets - some are even encouraged to do so by their parents. It's clear that using parenting as an institution to nurture and instil discipline among children has collapsed in Uganda.

Uganda could actually pass the social disorganisation theory, proposed by Edwin Sutherland, as a practical reality. With the fall of family ties that controlled children in Uganda, social disorganisation has proliferated with some children involved in anti-social behaviour such as substance abuse and sexual promiscuity. This promiscuity is, unfortunately, a one way ticket to getting incurable HIV.

In Katumba village a home stands with a single parent who has daughters who are themselves single parents. Her children do not go to school, they get financial rewards from male patrons who sometimes get them pregnant. So a nursery of children with no future educational propspects, groomed to be in a promiscous environment, are being raised.

Guidance is the last thing available in this homestead. Meanwhile in Kyenjonjo District, a recent case of parents prostituting their female children for money shocked many residents. The girls were being encouraged by the parents to trap unsuspecting men and then defilement charges would be launched, so that fines needed to be paid to the parents.

In some cases in Uganda, parents live separately from their children and hire house help to take care of the home. This has given free reign to children who will experiment with just about anything, without parental guidance to keep them in line.

On Kampala's streets, children beg encouraged by their parents and guardians. Sex is often sold and the inevitable happens, the children are engaged in unsafe sex.

With no parental guidance and a communal break down of family nurturing, that is lack of relatives and community intervention, children in Uganda have grown up to be self destructive. The next generation, including children, seem open to harm and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.