A global orphans and vulnerable children
evidence-based research community.

The goal of OVCwellbeing.org is to create a community for researchers and policymakers to discuss evidence-based orphan and vulnerable children research results, ongoing studies, policy implications, and relevant news.

Our aim is to increase collaboration among the international community to provide guidance to a wide array of researchers and policymakers to promote the wellbeing of orphans and vulnerable children globally.

EXPLORE OVC RESEARCH

Caregiving Situations & Living Environments

Caregiving Situations & Living Environments

Educational Impact

Educational Impact

HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS

Long-term Consequences

Long-term Consequences

Measures & Evaluations

Measures & Evaluations

Socioemotional & Psychological Wellbeing

Socioemotional & Psychological Wellbeing

Training & Therapy

Training & Therapy

NEWS AND MEDIA

Get the latest news and information about OVC Wellbeing’s global health publications, research breakthroughs, internships, and achievements around the world.

First Visual-Based Article Published on High-Quality Residential Care Centers

First Visual-Based Article Published on High-Quality Residential Care Centers

Dr. Hy V. Huynh, Research Associate at CHPIR, combines his unique background and expertise in community psychology and humanitarian photography to publish the first visual-based research article ever published in an academic journal.

Check out his visual research article, titled “Lessons Learned from High-Quality Residential Care Centers Around the World: A Visual Story”, published in Springer’s International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice.

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POFO Cited in NPR Article

POFO Cited in NPR Article

“We see the same continuum of bad and good care in the group homes as we see in the family settings,” says Whetten.

For the last 12 years Whetten has been following 3,000 kids who were orphaned, abandoned or for some other reason separated from their biological parents. The professor of public policy and global health at Duke is conducting the study in five low- and middle-income countries. Half the kids are in institutions of some kind — government-run orphanages, private group homes. The other half have been placed with extended family members.

“What the kids really seem to need is a home-like environment,” Whetten says.

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Article on Deinstitutionalization in Malawi from The Equal Times

Article on Deinstitutionalization in Malawi from The Equal Times

Journalist, Charles Pensulo, wrote a comprehensive article for “The Equal Times” about deinstitutionalization in Malawi and interviewed Dr. Kate Whetten about findings from the Positive Outcomes for Orphans (POFO) Study:

Speaking to Equal Times, Whetten adds: “There is no NIH study of older children that has found that they do poorly in orphanages or institutions. All of these rigorously peer-reviewed studies have found that children in need do as well or better in orphanages relative to family settings, and that orphanages can be the place where children who are going to drop out of school, have severe emotional difficulties and learn no job trade, are able to thrive.”

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The OVC Wellbeing website was founded in 2012 by the Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research at Duke University, which is a part of the Duke Global Health Institute.

Please join us in partnership! We strongly welcome collaboration from interested individuals from across the world.

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