Demographic

Boys are somewhat less likely than girls to have all three basic material needs met (69 percentand 73 percent, respectively). Children in rural areas are less likely to have all basic needs met comparedwith children in urban areas (68 percent and 86 percent, respectively). Children in the highest wealthquintile were twice as likely as children in the lowest quintile to have all basic needs met.The table further shows that OVCs are lesslikely to have basic material needs met than non-OVCs(61 percent and 77 percent, respectively). Examining theratio of the percentage of children with basic needs metshows that the inequalities between OVCs and non-OVCs are greater among children age 5-9 years andchildren age 10-14 years than among children age 15-17years. The gap between OVCs and non-OVCs is alsoless for urban children and children living in Manzinithan for other children. The gap between OVCs and non-OVCs with respect to the possession of basic materialneeds decreases with wealth.17.4 ORPHANS NOT LIVING WITH SIBLINGSSibling interrelationships may be very close insituations where a parent dies, and maintaining theserelationships can be helpful for children dealing with theloss of a parent. Table 17.5 presents information on theproportion of orphans under the age of 18 with one ormore siblings also under age 18 who are not living withall of these other siblings.Around three in ten orphans under the age of 18are not living with all their siblings under the age of 18years. The likelihood that an orphan is not living with allof his or her siblings increases with age. Maternalorphans are more likely to live apart from their siblingsthan paternal orphans or double orphans, i.e., childrenwhose mother and father are both deceased. Urbanorphans are somewhat more likely to be living apartfrom their siblings than rural orphans. The Shiselweniregion has the lowest percentage of orphans less than 18 years of age living away from other siblings (21percent). Orphans in the highest wealth quintile are more than twice as likely as those in the lowestquintile to live apart from their siblings.17.5 UNDERWEIGHT ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDRENTable 17.5 Orphan not living with siblingsAmong orphans under age 18 years who have one ormore siblings under age 18 years, the percentage who donot live with all their siblings under age 18, by backgroundcharacteristics, Swaziland 2006-07BackgroundcharacteristicPercentage oforphans notliving with allsiblingsNumber oforphans withone or moresiblingsAge0-4 21.2 1275-9 20.8 45010-14 30.7 75515-17 36.7 430SexMale 29.2 870Female 28.7 891Orphanhood statusMaternal orphan 35.4 370Paternal orphan 23.9 1,087Both parents dead 39.0 304ResidenceUrban 34.3 191Rural 28.3 1,570RegionHhohho 33.0 362Manzini 30.0 534Shiselweni 21.4 497Lubombo 33.6 368Wealth quintileLowest 24.7 451Second 25.2 443Middle 25.4 399Fourth 35.2 275Highest 45.9 193Total 29.0 1,761Note: Table is based only on children who usually live inthe household.Table 17.6 shows the nutritional status of children under five years of age according toorphanhood status. The results indicate that OVCs are disadvantaged as compared to non-OVCs in termsof nutrition status. Overall, 11 percent of OVCs were underweight as compared with seven percent ofnon-OVCs. An examination of the ratios of the percentage underweight among OVCs compared withnon- OVCs indicates that, overall, the small numbers of urban OVCs and OVCs in the highest wealthquintile are the most disadvantaged compared to non-OVCs. The likelihood that OVCs are disadvantagedincreases with age. OVCs are more likely to be disadvantaged compared with non-OVCs if they are girlsthan if they are boys and if they live in Shiselweni and Lubombo than if they live in Manzini and Hhohho.268 | Orphans and Vulnerable Children