PIP: According to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, the total number of children orphaned by AIDS, mainly HIV-negative children under 15 years old is estimated at 7.8 million in Africa. With the limited resources made available by donors and governments in Africa for HIV/AIDS, interventions generally focus on prevention, rather than HIV/AIDS-related care. By unlinking prevention and care this way, prevention is seen as the key long-term issue, and care is viewed as a short-term palliative issue not linked with development. Moreover, cost-effectivity arguments are used to justify the choice of support for prevention as opposed to care, making the long-term needs of orphans to be subsumed under the focus of care. As a consequence, programs that target orphans are affected by the reluctance to commit scarce resources to them. To effectively deal with the problem of HIV/AIDS, a vision and commitment that goes beyond program cycles or policy declarations is required. A strategy of greatly improved community orphan care will not show quick returns or immediate impact on HIV prevention, but will show sound judgment and foresight and will be based on the increasing experience and knowledge gained in facing the HIV/AIDS epidemic.