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Drug roll-out to reduce AIDS orphans

    JOHANNESBURG

    An anticipated South African crisis of two million HIV/AIDS orphans by 2015 could be halved if the government's anti-AIDS drug promise is realised, the Department of Social Development has said.

    In what signalled a massive shift in the government's approach to the pandemic, the cabinet recently gave the Department of Health a September deadline for an operational HIV/AIDS drug rollout plan.

    While experts have predicted that two million children under the age of 15 could lose their parents by 2015, the department's chief director of population and development, Jacques van Zuydam, said the projection was based on the non-availability of drugs.

    The South African Press Association (SAPA) quoted Zuydam as saying: "Our expectation is that antiretroviral intervention, if there is a 100 percent rollout, will put that figure at one million."

    He said the government intervention could mean that one million children might grow up in a family environment.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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