Nursery World - Positive action

Children bereaved by AIDS are left without support and attention in a country where their neglect is storing up further troubles for generations to come, writes Helen Penn The Mohau Centre is a place of last resort. The 32 children who live at the orphanage are all HIV-positive, their mothers having already died from the virus. The mothers were mostly transients, without records. Even less is known about the children's fathers.

The Mohau Centre is a place of last resort. The 32 children who live at the orphanage are all HIV-positive, their mothers having already died from the virus. The mothers were mostly transients, without records. Even less is known about the children's fathers.

Children at the Mohau Centre, which is attached to Kalafong hospital near Tshwane (the new name for Pretoria) in South Africa, are mostly aged under five. Until recently they would probably have died before they were two, but new drugs have made survival possible. But these children have no identifiable history or background, and they face an uncertain future, dependent on new, untried drug regimes.

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