Property-grabbing from widows and orphans began long before the HIV and AIDS pandemic. However, the scale of HIV infection rates, stigmatisation and the social and economic vulnerability of widows and orphans have worsened the situation. Targets of psychological and physical harassment, dispossessed of their property and evicted from their homes, women and children are left often, the personal stories of both hardship and resilience in the face of adversity are lost in the statistics and dry overviews of national policies and epidemiological trends. Excluded from statistics, thes.
