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High rate of orphans

    JOHANNESBURG

    Zambia has been cited as one of the countries having the highest number of orphans in the world partly because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country.

    UNICEF's 1999 State of the World's Children Report said HIV/AIDS was having a devastating impact with 400,000 school aged orphans as of 1996. It says 73 percent of the orphaned children in urban areas have lost their fathers, 7 percent have lost their mothers while 20 percent are double orphans. In the rural samples, close to 55 percent have lost their fathers and over 15 percent of the orphans have lost their mothers, while nearly 30 percent have lost both parents.

    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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