AIDS knowledge to be shared with Eastern Europe

Eastern European health workers are seeking South Africa's assistance with their AIDS orphans. Eastern Europe's leading children's hospice specialist, Anna Garchakova, was especially impressed with St Nicholas Hospice in Bloemfontein, Free State, which currently cares for nearly 700 HIV-positive children. Joan Marsten, a representative from St Nicholas, told the South African Broadcasting Corporation that Garchakova had approached the local hospice as she foresaw a huge problem with the pandemic in her country. Although some Eastern Europe reports put their figures as low as 140 HIV-positive people in a population of 9 million, the World Health Organisation has estimated a 40 percent increase in reported cases over the past two years.