AEGiS-AP: AIDS , Poverty Orphan 10% Of Ethiopia's Children - Report Associated PressImportant note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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AIDS , Poverty Orphan 10% Of Ethiopia's Children - Report

Associated Press - December 13, 2004

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - Ten percent of Ethiopia's 46 million children are orphans whose parents died of AIDS , poverty and poor health conditions, a new report said Monday.

Ethiopia needs $115 million a month, slightly less than its annual health budget of around $140 million, to help look after the orphans, said a government report backed by UNICEF and Save the Children, an international aid group.

The orphaned children "are very vulnerable to all forms of abuse and exploitation," said the report. "They face a loss of inheritance rights, loss of opportunities for education, basic health care, normal growth and development and shelter."

HIV/AIDS is fueling the orphan boom, leaving 537,000 children without parents in the nation of 70 million people. Some 315 Ethiopians die each day from AIDS-related illnesses. An estimated 1.5 million people live with the virus in the country.

The scale of the orphan crisis is "tearing at the very fabric of childhood" in the country, said Hassen Abdella, the minister of labor and social affairs.


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