'11m Aids orphans in Africa'

2003-02-27 14:07

Washington - The world has turned its back on 11 million African Aids orphans, says World Food Organisation head James Morris.

"The world has not yet made a decision that 2.6 million orphans is a disaster (in Mozambique) or the incredible impact this has had on agricultural workers," he said at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think-tank.

"The world has a special responsibility to these children," he said.

He said that often their parents died before they were able to learn how to farm, and that made the food crisis worse.

Morris sends a large proportion of the UN aid agency's resources to the countries of sub-Saharan Africa hardest-hit by Aids.

He said that in Zimbabwe, where there were 780 000 orphans, agricultural production this year would be one-third of its 10-year average, due also, in part, to bad economic policies.

In Malawi, he said, 10% of families were headed by a child and half were headed by somebody over 65.

Zambia lost 2 000 teachers to Aids and one-half of the students had dropped out of school, said Morris.

- AFP