Care for children affected by Aids 'must improve'
Unicef calling for better care for children orphaned by Aids
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Tuesday, 15, Aug 2006 11:26
Improvements in care for children affected by Aids must "accelerate", according to a new report issued by Unicef, the joint UN programme on HIV and Aids and the US president's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar).
Africa's Orphaned and Vulnerable Generations: Children Affected by Aids states that 12 million of the 48 million orphans in sub-Sahara Africa have lost one or both parents to Aids.
It cites the case in Zambia, where 20 per cent of all children were orphans in 2005, one half of them due to Aids. This resulted in a population of 11 million having to support over 1.2 million orphans.
"We must do more to help," said Unicef deputy executive director Rima Salah. "Millions of children affected by Aids are out of school, growing up alone, vulnerable to poverty, marginalisation and discrimination.
"Children who have lost parents and care-givers are left without their first line of defence. One of the most effective ways to keep these children safe is to invest in education, especially for girls.we have a moral obligation to act with no delay."
The report calls for international agencies, non-government organisations and all other parties to do more to support the worst affected countries.
Critical programmes at a local level need to be strengthened, the report states, while national governments and the international community must use resources and service provision to enable children affected by Aids to go to school and to have better access to healthcare.
The calls for improvement come as part of the Time to Deliver International Aids Conference held in Toronto this week. Groups behind it hope to put the "missing face" of children affected by Aids at the centre of the agenda.