Eswatini: how social pressures and poverty affect the ability of children to navigate school

A country as poor as Eswatini cannot afford to compromise the education of its children. Colin McPherson/Getty Images

The population of Eswatini (previously called Swaziland) is slightly below 1.2 million people, and about 58.9% of the people live below the nationally defined poverty line – living on less than US$1.9 a day. For years Eswatini has also had the highest prevalence of HIV and AIDS in the world. In 2019, about 27% of the country’s population was HIV positive.

One of the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS, coupled with poverty, has been the escalating numbers of vulnerable children in the country. For example, in 2012, the number of children classified as vulnerable in Eswatini was estimated to be at 181,000. In 2016 this number had escalated to 241,377 – about 71% of the 339,968 child population.