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UN envoy predicts "apocalypse" of AIDS orphans

    JOHANNESBURG

    An "apocalypse of orphans" will become sub-Saharan Africa's next challenge in the fight against HIV/AIDS, a senior UN official has said.

    The UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, noted that the world was only now responding to the growing number of children who had lost one or both parents to the pandemic.

    A Canadian newspaper, the Kitchener-Waterloo Record, quoted Lewis as saying: "These kids are not just hungry and aren't in school because they can't afford school fees; they're not just isolated and living in desperate circumstances - they're traumatised. They've watched their parents die."

    There are already an estimated 15 million orphans and vulnerable children in the region, and this figure is likely grow to 25 million by 2010.

    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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