Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New York Times (12.24.03) - Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Sharon LaFraniere
The social implications are enormous, UNICEF and other relief organizations report. Orphans are more likely to suffer from chronic malnutrition, to drop out of school, to live on the streets, to turn to prostitution or other forms of crime, and to become infected with HIV.
Though African social customs dictate that relatives should take in orphans, AIDS has pushed so many families to the edge that surviving adults are starting to turn away their young relatives. So far, governments have done little to deal with the orphan problem: Just six of the 40 sub-Saharan countries hit by HIV/AIDS have plans in place to handle orphans, UNICEF says.
The Sofala region of Mozambique, which has both a port and a major highway running to Zimbabwe, has been particularly hard hit. One in 4 adults in the province is infected. Maria Cemedo, an official at an agency that serves women and children in Sofala, said an entire generation is being lost. "We may become a society of old people and children," said Cemedo.
Of the 46,000 registered orphans in the province, few receive any government aid, said Antonia Charre, the agency's director. Less than 5 percent obtain food through the World Food Program, she noted. "It's a shocking situation. It is not clear how some of these children survive from one day to the next," said Charre.
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