Beloved Daughter

We believe… you can be a part of halting the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Beloved Daughter is a holistic HIV/AIDS prevention, self-esteem, life-skill program developed by KidCare International to address the underlying contributing factors relating to rising numbers of HIV cases in girls and young women.

Beloved Daughter strives to educate and nurture girls and young women, like Sophia, who lost her brother during a food shortage, mother to AIDS, and her virginity as a child when she was severely abused by relatives.Sophia decided to leave home and chance her luck on the streets of Arusha, trying to scrape together a living from begging on the streets or whatever work she could find. Sophia, one of thousands of children helped by KidCare International, is now gaining life skills necessary to live her life protected from HIV.

The greatest hope for changing the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is giving young people the right tools, education, care, and support.

Hard Facts

While great strides and recent medical breakthroughs have helped, HIV continues to challenge global health, with Africa being the hardest hit

In Africa, women and girls, because of their status in the community, are the most vulnerable victims of HIV/AIDS and the country of Tanzania remains one of the hardest hit. According to UNAIDS’s Global AIDS Epidemic report, 1,400,000 people are infected with HIV and an estimated 1,100,000 orphans and vulnerable children in Tanzania. Tanzania’s National Policy indicates women are infected at a much earlier age, due to coerced sex, unsafe sex with older men, prostitution, and a lack of skills and information on self protection. An alarming 69 percent of the new infections in are women in the 15-24 year age group. In some regions they are two to six times more likely to be infected than young men, and infected at a younger age.

How KidCare International is Responding

We believe this crisis cannot be solved without strengthening the role of women in Africa with programs, like Beloved Daughter, which builds self-esteem. Overall, women have a lower standard of living than men.

Former First Lady Laura Bush, July 2006, campaigning in Tanzania to promote HIV/AIDS prevention, anti-poverty initiatives, and the strengthening role of women in the continent stated:

“Women who have control over their own lives, including economic power and social respect, have a greater ability to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS.”

Catalyzed by Mrs. Bush’s powerful and insightful words, KidCare International, in collaboration with women leaders from Tanzania, students from Pepperdine University, and others the Beloved Daughter program was created. The Beloved Daughter Program has been taught to thousands of young women and girls in Tanzania, Haiti and South Africa.