Frank talk on sex urged between parents and children

AIDS experts are encouraging frank discussions on sex between Malawian parents and children in an effort address the spread of HIV. Peter Busse, a South Africa-based AIDS educator and facilitator, said ignorance about sex was one of the major factors contributing to the spread of the pandemic. "It is high time that cultural barriers which exist between the parents and children are removed, so that the children are made aware of the dangers of the disease," a local newspaper, The Chronicle, quoted Busse as saying. According to Malawi's Ministry of Health and Population, 14 percent of the adults are estimated to be HIV-positive and about 150,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS.