HIV and the family.

Abstract

As the UN Development Programme (UNDP) prepares to join with five other UN organizations in a new HIV/AIDS program, it issued the statement contained in this essay for the 1994 World AIDS Day. The family is the most basic social unit which, despite cultural and temporal variations, acts as a source of care and support for its members and provides a context for human development. The AIDS epidemic has affected many families and led to the creation of new configurations, such as families headed by adolescents and families where dying adults are tended by their children. The responsibility of families for the well-being of children is shared by the state which must provide appropriate programs to assist and support families in light of the devastation of the AIDS epidemic. The UNDP holds families at the center of its development strategy and will assist in the development of policies and programs to strengthen sustainable human development. Whereas the HIV/AIDS epidemic makes this goal more difficult to attain, it also makes it more imperative.