Girl survivors of war face poverty, prostitution and HIV

Young girls brutalised by war are falling victim to a vicious circle of poverty, prostitution and pregnancy making them extremely vulnerable to HIV, according to a study to be presented to the International AIDS Conference in Mexico next month by Plan.

Girls who were abducted by fighting forces or lost parents during conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia often have no way of feeding themselves, the study based on interviews of 1,000 children aged 8-18 in six West African countries found.

Many girls are left with just two options: starve or earn money by selling unprotected sex. Men will often refuse to use a condom.

The study found that two-thirds of war orphans were at high risk of suicide, meaning they had either tried to kill themselves or made a plan to do so. In addition to the pain suffered by individuals, failure to offer girls an alternative to prostitution risks accelerating the spread of HIV in the region.

Alice Behrendt, the report’s author, said: “Governments and organisations working with young people have to confront an ever greater number of children who are vulnerable to HIV and unable to contribute to the development of their countries due to mental health impairments.”

Almost 50 per cent of the girls interviewed in Liberia had been pregnant outside a stable relationship. This compares to fewer than 3 per cent of girls who had experience of transactional sex in Burkina Faso and Cameroon. Girls who become mothers face additional pressure to earn money as they have to feed both themselves and their children.

In countries which had not recently experienced war, domestic violence was a major factor in making girls vulnerable to HIV. More than 80 per cent of interviewed children had suffered physical or verbal abuse and neglect.

Ms Behrendt said: “The repeated exposure of many children to severe forms of domestic violence resulted in low self-esteem, limited social skills and high likelihood of suicide among young people.

“It also caused children behave in ways which increase the risk of HIV infection such as running away from home, and spending entire days in the street, leaving them vulnerable to transactional sex and child trafficking.”

Plan has set up mobile counselling units for traumatised children who took part in the research. These units provide medical facilities and social assistance, including financial support for school or apprenticeship equipment and fees, as well as traditional healing ceremonies and family mediation.