AIDS rampant in India, UNICEF says
Copyright c 1997 Nando.net
Copyright c 1997 Reuters
NEW DELHI, India (November 19, 1997 10:35 a.m. EST
nando.net) - India is fast becoming an AIDS epicenter,
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said Wednesday.
"India will soon become an HIV (and) AIDS epicenter," Bellamy
told Reuters in an interview, but she added: "I am convinced that
India has the commitment to solve the problem."
An UNICEF statement said India was one of the highest-risk
countries in the world, with a large number of AIDS victims and
potential victims.
"Even when the disease gets an adult as its victim, the children
who are part of the family are direct sufferers," the statement
said.
It said the estimated 400,000 street children who live in India's
four biggest cities -- New Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras
-- were more vulnerable to HIV than others.
UNICEF said in 1996 alone, 400,000 children under the age of
15 became infected with HIV worldwide, over 90 percent of them
in developing countries.
Experts have said India, with an estimated 3 million to 5 million
HIV cases, leads all other countries. HIV leads to AIDS.
|
