-Caveat Lector- Yahoo! News Science Headlines Thursday July 22 8:39 AM ET AIDS Destroys Children's Lives In Africa Full Coverage Africa AIDS Epidemic By Rosalind Russell NAIROBI (Reuters) - The AIDS epidemic has devastated the lives of children across Africa leaving eight million as orphans and crushing rates of child survival, the United Nations children's agency UNICEF said Thursday. A staggering 48 percent of the world's HIV/AIDS cases are in eastern and southern Africa, and the virus has overtaken war as the number one killer in the region, the agency said at the African launch in Nairobi of its annual ``Progress of Nations'' report. UNICEF's Deputy Executive Director Stephen Lewis told reporters that the devastation the virus had reaped across Africa was a ``modern incarnation of Dante's inferno.'' ``Never has Africa faced such a plague,'' he said. ``One wonders how the continent will cope.'' Lewis said AIDS had killed 1.4 million people in the region in 1998 and the spread of the epidemic was accelerating. By the end of next year, another two million children would be orphaned and the numbers would continue to rise exponentially. The orphans, especially girls, were left shouldering adult responsibilities such as caring for the sick as well as younger brothers and sisters, and were vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and malnutrition, the agency said. Mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus during pregnancy or through breastfeeding has eroded all the hard won infant and child survival gains of the last 20 years, Lewis said. If the spread of the virus is not contained, AIDS could increase under-five mortality by more than 100 percent in those regions worst affected by the disease. But there are some glimmers of hope. A new drug, nevirapine, still under trial in Uganda, could cut mother-to-child transmission rates by up to 50 percent -- at a cost of just $4 for the full treatment. Other AIDS treatments such as AZT cost hundreds of dollars and are way beyond the means of most Africans. Lewis said UNICEF was excited about the implications of nevirapine, which the agency believed could save millions of lives. Nevertheless, UNICEF said education rather than new treatments was the only effective way to halt the spread of the deadly virus. Lewis urged African leaders to take the lead in breaking the ``conspiracy of silence'' surrounding the disease in a continent where myth and ignorance have fuelled its rampant spread. ``The disease must become an obsession among the leadership,'' he said. ``A leader who fails to speak out against HIV/AIDS fails the people of his nation.'' He also criticised what he said was a ``massive distortion of priorities'' by Western governments which had failed to respond to the crisis. ``It is morally indefensible, morally unconscionable, that the West is prepared to spend upwards of $40 billion to fight a war in the Balkans and less than one percent of that to save the lives of tens of millions of women and children in Africa,'' Lewis said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Search News Stories Search News Photos Jul 24 | Jul 23 | Jul 22 | Jul 21 | Jul 20 | Jul 19 | Jul 18 | Jul 17 | Jul 16 | Jul 15 Home | Top Stories | Business | Tech | Politics | World | Local | Entertainment | Sports | Science | Health - DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
