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More than 15 million orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in sub-Saharan Africa will have lost one or both parents to AIDS by 2010, the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) said in a new report this week.
The report released at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada, noted that without parents - their first line of defence - most children were also at increased risk of infection through sexual exploitation.
"Millions of children affected by AIDS are out of school, growing up alone, vulnerable to poverty, marginalisation and discrimination," UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Rima Salah said in a statement.
Unicef stressed that the growing extent of Africa's AIDS orphan crisis required new interventions at the local, national and international level.
Access the full report: www.unicef.org
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