About 90% of the estimated 2,3-million Zimbabweans infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), are unaware they have the virus, Health Minister David Parirenyatwa told a conference in Harare on Thursday.
Parirenyatwa said teenage girls were particularly vulnerable owing to cultural practices such as forced and arranged marriages.
He said 240 000 children are currently infected with the virus while 780 000 had lost at least one parent as a result of it, in a total population of approximately 12-million people.
He estimated 1,1-million children below the age of 15 would be orphaned by Aids, the illness stemming from HIV infection, by 2005.
”It is sad to note that an average of 2 000 people die of HIV/Aids every week, and most of them are in the economically active and reproductive age group,” Parirenyatwa said. – Sapa-DPA