National plan of action for AIDS orphans being drafted

The drafting of a national plan of action to improve the lives of children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS in the Central African Republic (CAR) was the focus of a three-day workshop held last week in Bangui. Financed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the gathering included over 60 participants from UN agencies, NGOs, and religious, community and youth organisations working with representatives of the CAR government to propose actions to improve the lives of children orphaned or rendered vulnerable by AIDS. It was the first time that as many actors in the HIV/AIDS domain had come together to address the issue of AIDS affecting so many children in the country, UNICEF reported. During the 2001 Special Session of the UN General Assembly on AIDS, the government of CAR agreed to establish a plan of action to protect children affected or infected by AIDS by 2003, and to ensure its implementation by 2005. The fight against AIDS and its effects on children and women is one of the priorities of the new CAR/UNICEF cooperation programme for 2002-2006. UNICEF has committed US $500,000 to support programmes carried out in collaboration with the ministries of social affairs and health and geared towards improving the lives of AIDS orphans. Their activities include reinforcing institutional and family capacities; providing financial and material support to host families; supporting the structures that take care of children orphaned or rendered vulnerable by AIDS; protecting the target group's economic rights; caring for children's health; and raising awareness of the children's situation among the general population. CAR has one of the highest prevalence rates of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa. According to UNAIDS, the CAR currently has 110,000 AIDS orphans. The adult HIV rate is 12.9 percent, while there are an estimated 250,000 HIV-infected people in this country of some 3.5 million people. In 2001 alone, 22,000 Central Africans died of AIDS.