Health impact of orphanhood on children: A critical review

From 2001 to 2007, the number of HIV/AIDS-related orphans has nearly doubled to 15 million worldwide. This recent rise in the number of orphans burdens extended family networks, poses serious concern for public programs that provide long-term care, and potentially threatens orphans' developmental growth and overall health status. This paper assesses the health implications of orphanhood on mortality and nutritional status by conducting a critical review of relevant published studies sourced from two electronic databases, NCBI PubMed and ISI Web of Science. Reviewed studies compare orphaned children's health status to that of non-orphans, suggesting an absence of association between orphanhood and mortality. In addition, the majority of the literature implies that orphanhood has no detectable effect on anthropometric status. In the cases where an association is found, orphanhood is negatively associated with health outcomes, particularly for children under 5 years of age. The gap in the literature that can be addressed by future research includes type of orphan, care received, and other health outcomes that may be associated with co-morbidity.