Wall Street Journal - Thursday, July 11, 2002
Rachel Zimmerman, Staff Reporter

In eight years, one in five children in the four African countries most affected by the epidemic will have lost a parent to AIDS, according to the report, which examined 88 poor countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 6% of all children in the region -- about 20 million kids -- will become orphans by 2010, the report predicts.

In Asia, where the epidemic is just beginning to escalate, the number of AIDS orphans is expected to more than double to 4.3 million by 2010, up from less than two million at the end of last year.

For its definition of orphans, the study included children aged 15 or younger living without their mothers, without their fathers or with no parents.

In poor countries, children who lose parents to AIDS tend to drop out of school and take on a menial job, or they live on the streets, begging or turning to prostitution. U.N. officials say they are trying to help by promoting community involvement that keeps orphans in school, particularly girls who tend to drop out in greater numbers than boys. Advocates are also seeking legal changes, such as abolishing rules that forbid minors from inheriting land.

With the orphan crisis in mind, a consortium with U.N., foundation and academic support Wednesday launched a $50 million project expected to deliver medicines to 10,000 HIV-positive mothers and relatives. The program, led by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, will first administer drugs to prevent transmission of the virus from pregnant women to their babies. Then, doctors will offer treatment to the mothers, fathers and other relatives so they can live long enough to care for their children.

The program will operate out of 12 health centers and hospitals around Africa and in Thailand.

"It moves us from saving babies to building families," said Sandra Thurman, president of the International AIDS Trust, one of the groups involved in the project.

In a separate effort, to help decrease the stigma surrounding AIDS, the South African version of the popular children's program "Sesame Street" will introduce its first HIV-positive muppet in September. The new muppet, a healthy five-year-old girl who has yet to be named, will be a regular character on the show, said Joel Schneider, a senior adviser with Sesame Workshop in New York. She will be a "monster" muppet as opposed to a "humanoid" -- more Grover than Bert and Ernie, Mr. Schneider said. "She's a self-assured character meant to help kids embrace those with HIV in their communities, to destigmatize them and to humanize them."

Write to Rachel Zimmerman at rachel.zimmerman@wsj.com
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