Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Thursday December 4, 2003
One in five Zambians has HIV or AIDS and government figures show the country has more than 700,000 children whose parents have died of the disease. Many are also infected themselves.
Oprah arrived in the Zambian capital Lusaka Thursday to raise HIV/AIDS awareness and get first hand information on the problem of AIDS orphans.
But she said that as an African American woman, the trip had an added importance for her. "We are proud to be here in Africa because this is where our roots are," Oprah said.
She said not enough help was being given to AIDS orphans in Africa because the world still did not understand the devastating impact the disease had had on the continent.
"People out there know the AIDS problem in Africa through statistics and not the human suffering it has created ... the correct picture of how AIDS orphans and women are suffering has not been brought out. I will help to correct that through my shows," Oprah said.
She would also lobby for more funding to be given to Africa to help tackle AIDS, she said.
Oprah, who was invited to Zambia by the United Nations Children Fund, visited clinics providing infected pregnant and nursing women with drugs to prevent them passing the HIV virus to their babies.
She arrived in Zambia after attending the Nelson Mandela AIDS benefit concert in South Africa at the weekend. She leaves Friday.
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