blog post

Hope in Dream Initiative (HIDI)

Written By Ally Mahmoud Tagged As HIDI

In Africa, there are currently close to 60 million orphans. Children infected with HIV/AIDS and other diseases make up about 15.1 million of this orphaned population. These numbers keep increasing each year. In Ghana, for instance, there are 148 Children’s Homes (orphanages) that are operational. However, only five are registered (CRI, 2006). Compared to the high number of orphans in Ghana, the small number of orphanages clearly cannot and does not accommodate all of the orphaned children (Colburn, Jessica, 2010). The same scenario happens in other African countries as well. Also, all orphaned children in each African country, according to the National Health Insurance legislation, should have been classified as indigents and registered to their local National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and should have been given access to proper health care free of charge. However, OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) living with caregivers in households must pay to register for the scheme since their caregiver(s), though incapacitated, are alive. Many OVC in homes and orphanages that are not registered are not covered by the NHIS since their caregivers cannot afford the registration and annual premium and, therefore, resort to alternate means of healthcare. Sadly, this situation has led to many children in orphanages and in foster care dying from diseases that could have been easily treated under the NHIS. Hence, to provide help to some of these sick-orphaned children, in 2012, Bonsomi made important commitment to annually fund the health insurance needs of 200 HIV/AIDS orphans at the HardtHaven Children’s Home. This orphanage is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization located in the city of Kpando, in Ghana.