Community-Based Interventions to Support HIV and AIDS Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Africa: A Systematic Review.

Introduction: Community-based interventions to support orphans and vulnerable children were the basis for this systematic review, which was undertaken using the available literature based on different studies that outlined community-based interventions.

Methodology: A systematic literature searches for quantitative, mixed methods, and qualitative studies describing the community-based intervention to support HIV and AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in Africa was performed in the following databases: Google Scholar, PubMed, EBSCOhost and Science Direct. The search utilized keywords, Boolean operators, and search engine filters, guided by inclusion and exclusion criteria as part of the search strategy. The keywords used included: community-based interventions, support (psychosocial, economic, material, and social), OVC, and Africa. A thematic approach was used to analyze common emerging themes in the community-based interventions to support HIV and AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in Africa.

Results: In total, 16 studies met the inclusion criteria, documenting a range of community-based interventions to support OVC in Africa. These included food and/or food parcels, child protection, healthcare services, as well as educational, legal and psychosocial support.

Conclusion: Community-based intervention support plays a crucial role in enhancing the lives of orphans and vulnerable children in Africa. Community-based intervention support needs to be integrated into a wider social service system. Further research focusing on the cost of community-based intervention support and successful programs for mainstreaming community-based intervention into a wider social system is needed.