The HIV/AIDS epidemic has continued to pose significant challenges to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Millions ofAfrican children and youth have lost parents to HIV/AIDS leaving a generation of orphans to be cared for withinextended family systems and communities. The experiences of youth who have lost parents to the HIV/AIDS epi-demic provide an important ingress into this complex, evolving, multi-dimensional phenomenon. A fundamentalqualitative descriptive study was conducted to develop a culturally relevant and comprehensive description of theexperiences of orphanhood from the perspectives of Ugandan youth. A purposeful sample of 13 youth who hadlost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS and who were affiliated with a non-governmental organization providingsupport to orphans were interviewed. Youth orphaned by HIV/AIDS described the experience of orphanhoodbeginning with parental illness, not death. Several losses were associated with the death of a parent including lostsocial capitol, educational opportunities and monetary assets. Unique findings revealed that youth experienced cul-turally specific stigma and conflict which was distinctly related to their HIV/AIDS orphan status. Exploitation withinextended cultural family systems was also reported. Results from this study suggest that there is a pressing need toidentify and provide culturally appropriate services for these Ugandan youth prior to and after the loss of a parent(s).
