Angola's Orphans

The war has had a profound impact on Angolan society and on the children of Angola. The USA-based Christian Children's Fund reports that throughout the country, approximately one in ten young people between 8 and 25 were abducted at least once during the long 27-year civil war. Boys were typically assigned to serve as personal assistants to soldiers; girls provided logistical support and accompanied the attacks. Both girls and boys describe extreme physical hardship with long- term after-effects from injuries. Few of the affected young people have benefited from formal demobilization or reintegration programs.

Additionally, as well as recovering from the affects of a prolonged civil war, Angola is having to come to terms with a rising rate of HIV / AIDS. Nearly 4% of the adult population is affected and leaving more than 160,000 children orphaned as a result of HIV / AIDS (source UNICEF).  There are social repercussions to the children as well.  “It is noticed that many children infected or affected (sons and daughters of HIV/AIDS infected people) are discriminated, abandoned and separated from the family environment,” Maria da Luz Magalhães,  Angola Vice-Minister of Social Affairs has stated.


The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) cumulative data states that in Angola in 2010 an estimated total of over 1.2 million children (0 - 17 years of age) will be orphaned due to all causes combined (civil war, AIDS, malaria).

Various children-advocacy agencies such as UNICEF, Christian Children's Fund, USAID and SOS Children's Villages are working to create orphanages and rehabilitate the growing number of these affected children.