This story from South Africa's Western Province addresses the increasing influx of orphans, and the difficulty children's centers have in keeping up.

Added to the AIDS toll and poverty, the fact that crime is rampant and in many places there is no shame in stealing from orphans or burning down and vandalizing facilities that care for them.

In Cape Town, they're trying to prepare for soaring numbers of orphans there, too, with some warning that the problem has moved from being just social problem to a socio-economic problem.

WIth care for orphaned children getting squeezed a bit tighter every year as the numbers increase, the likelihood of increasing crime, prostitution, and so on ... there's fear of a downward spiral that must be interrupted.

(Information on adoption from South Africa can be found here. There were 17 South African kids adopted by Americans in 2005.)

From Uganda a report from the MInistry of Gender saying that USAID has donated money for orphan care, and also mentions the growing number of AIDS orphans. They're expecting over two million in the next few years.

Also from Uganda, some distressing news of 'making do' ...

Apparently because of a lack of equipment, the government has taken to using charcoal stoves ... commonly called sigili ... as incubators for premature infants.

Some are thinking this is a good idea, while others are predicting burnt babies ... no mention at all of the impact of breathing charcoal fumes ... and suggesting government campaigns to promote mosquito net use and good nutrition for pregnant women.

(There were 12 Immigrant visas issued to children adopted by Americans from Uganda in 2006. Information on the process is here.)

This headline from Nigeria: "One Out of Five Children Will Die Before Age Five".

According to Lagos State University Professor Olisamedua Njokanma, more than half of the doomed children will die on their first day in the world, and while insisting that free and accessible health care delivery is possible in Nigeria, "... If only corruptions is eradicated in the system", he admits that the country is ranked 13th worst in the world for child mortality..

'It is a shame to note that malaria, malnutrition, respiratory,diarroeal diseases and vaccine-preventable diseases, poliomyelitis and tuberculosis still rank very high among them that maim and kill our children", said Prof Njokanma.

And that doesn't even mention the toll HIV/AIDS takes.

(Nigeria has very complicated international adoption laws that vary by state ... you can read up on some of them here ... and in 2005 only 65 US immigrant visas were issued for Nigerian children adopted by Americans.)