AIDS to orphan 40m children

AIDS will leave 40 million children worldwide orphaned by 2010, with male sexual behaviour “largely responsible”, a United Nations report said yesterday.

The study said AIDS infected 14,000 men, women and children daily and was the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa.

It said the disease had become the major cause of adult deaths in Africa, with life expectancy falling and the possibility of the sub-Saharan region having 71 million fewer people in eight years because of the epidemic.

The findings were revealed in a major report by the Population Fund (UNFPA) called The State of World Population 2002.

The report stated: “Women are more vulnerable to infection and sex workers are far more likely than the population at large to be infected.

“But the sexual behaviour of men is largely responsible for spreading the disease.”

The study added: “The healthcare system in Africa is overwhelmed and health workers are being struck down, leaving a decimated staff to confront an exploding crisis.”

The report said: “As the struggle to reduce drug prices and expand treatment continues, public health services will determine the ability of households and communities to deal with the epidemic.

“Failure to provide health services, whatever the difficulties of meeting the short-term costs, will spell disaster for development and poverty eradication efforts.”

According to the study, in the Central African Republic 85% of teachers who died between 1996 and 1998 were HIV positive.

In Kenya, the death toll among teachers rose from 450 in 1995 to 1,400 in 1999.

The report said: “Staff are falling ill and dying: there are fewer teachers in the schools, police on the beat, nurses in the clinics and sanitation workers picking up garbage. Without experienced staff, governments at all levels will break down, threatening not only economic development but infrastructure like roads and airports and eventually social cohesion itself.”

Thoraya Obaid, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, said estimates suggest half of the world’s population lived on $2 a day.

She also warned about AIDS: “The pandemic could sweep through Asia with infection rates similar to levels in Africa 12 years ago.”

Elsewhere in the report, researchers have found a “population effect” on economic growth.

New data shows that since 1970, developing countries with lower fertility and slower population growth have seen higher productivity, more savings and more productive investment.

The study added: “Several countries in east Asia, as well as Mexico and Brazil, have taken advantage of it.

“The effect of declining fertility in Brazil has been equal to economic growth of 0.7% of GDP per capita each year.”