Over-age and underserved: a case control study of HIV-affected children and education in Rwanda

ABSTRACT

Children living with and affected by HIV are at risk of poverty and mental health problems that can interfere with educational attainment. This review is a secondary analysis of educational attainment within a case-controlled study of children 10–17 years of age who were HIV-positive, HIV-affected by caregiver HIV status or by HIV in their family and HIV-unaffected in rural Rwanda. We evaluated caregiver and child-reported HIV-related stigma, anxiety/depression, conduct problems and social support and any likely associations with children being overage for their current grade in school. Overall, 90.4% of children were enrolled in school; however, 83.8% were overage for their current grade, with higher rates of overage for grade among HIV-positive and HIV-affected children. Interventions and policies that recognize and promote social support within education to address challenges of conduct problems among youth may help counteract the high rates of grade repetition among children in rural Rwanda.

KEYWORDS:

• Rwanda
• Education
• HIV-affected children
• caregiver HIV status

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Harvard Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) at Harvard University, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health (Grant Number 5P30AI060354). We are grateful to the families who participated in this study, as well as the support of community health workers to identify eligible households. This work would not have been possible without the collaboration of the Ministry of Health and Partners In Health/Inshuti Mu Buzima and the University of Rwanda.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Harvard Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) at Harvard University, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant number 5P30AI060354].