The 'Silent' Legacy of AIDS

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Abstract
Over the past decade, efforts to improve the organization and provision of health care for families affected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have focused primarily on infected individuals. However, from the start it has been clear that children who were or would be orphaned as a result of the epidemic would add unique complexities to the equation. See also p 3456. How many children have been or will be orphaned by the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic? In this issue ofJAMA, Michaels and Levine1estimate that 18 500 children and adolescents have already been orphaned. By 1996, this number will increase to 45 600 and by the year 2000 to 82 000 orphans. Additionally, tens of thousands of young adults will become motherless. These estimates, which are similar to recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates,2are based on a set of reasonable assumptions