Kellogg Foundation Donates $5M To Assist AIDS Orphans in Three Southern African Nations

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has donated $5 million to provide "community support for the care and development" of AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa, the Harare Herald/AllAfrica.com reports. The foundation said that the grant, which will be coordinated by the South African Human Science Research Council, "symbolized the strengthening of partnership and collaboration between the foundation, governments and communities" (Harare Herald/AllAfrica.com, 10/8). The foundation chose to focus on AIDS orphans because of the magnitude of the problem in the region -- an estimated 4.7 million children in Southern Africa have lost one or both parents to AIDS-related causes -- and because of the "enormous threat" posed by orphanhood to the children's livelihood. Orphans are more likely to face malnutrition, illness and abuse and are more likely to end their education prematurely (Makinana, Cape Argus/AllAfrica.com, 10/8).