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Child AIDS risk higher than previously thought

    JOHANNESBURG

    Nearly seven percent of South African children aged between two and nine are HIV-positive, a survey by the country's Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) revealed on Wednesday.

    This offers grim new data on a country struggling with the world's worst HIV/AIDS pandemic, says the HSRC. An estimated 5.3 million of South Africa's 45 million people are HIV-positive.

    The survey suggests that parentless children are at highest risk of infection, with an estimated 12.7 percent of orphans under the age of 18 already living with HIV/AIDS.

    HSRC executive director Dr Olive Shisana was quoted by Reuters as saying: "The risk of HIV/AIDS among children has received little attention in South Africa ... it appears that children run a much greater risk of contracting the disease than was previously thought."

    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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