Country struggles with AIDS orphan support

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa on Tuesday said the country was struggling to provide for more than 600,000 HIV/AIDS orphans. Research shows that thousands of orphans across Africa are forced to fend for themselves as traditional extended family networks collapse under the growing strain. "We now have 620,000 orphans and I am told the figure will go up to 974,000 by the year 2014," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Mwanawasa as saying. Meanwhile, the visiting UN special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, expressed disappointment with international donors over their reluctance to release money, saying it was very unfortunate that a US $92 million Global AIDS Fund grant for HIV/AIDS in Zambia was trickling in slowly.