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AIDS epidemic to increase orphans

    JOHANNESBURG

    One in seven children under the age of five in South Africa will be orphaned by the year 2005 as a result of the AIDS epidemic, media reports said.

    The reports quoted social workers, AIDS lobby groups and legal experts telling the parliamentary committee on Welfare and Population Development that by next year, between 197,000 and 278,000 KwaZulu-Natal children under the age of 15 will have lost their mothers through AIDS.

    The committe was also told that child-headed households will become common in South Africa because communities will be saturated with orphaned children.

    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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