More than 11 million children under 15 years of age have been orphaned as a result of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, with that figure expected to rise to 20 million by 2010, a press conference was told in Dublin yesterday.
Presenting a report by UNICEF Ireland, Ms Maura Quinn, the agency's executive director, said 2.3 million children in the region were living with HIV/AIDS, while 26.5 million people there lived with the condition. Of these, 10 million were aged between 15 and 24. Last year 5,000 adults died there every day from AIDS-related illnesses.
Launching the report, Ms Melanie Verwoerd, South Africa's ambassador to Ireland, said her government had never been in denial over the extent of AIDS in her country. There had been an issue over anti-retroviral drugs, and the South African government had taken pharmaceutical companies to court, clearing the way for the use of generic drugs to fight the condition there, she said.
UNICEF's Mr Peter McDermott, its HIV/AIDS chief, said a study last year had shown the contribution of church and faith groups to the fight against AIDS in Africa had been "totally underestimated". They had "contributed massively", he said. He praised Ireland's increased funding to combat AIDS, now more than €40 million annually.
