Zimbabwe has the highest number of orphans in the world in relation to its population, mainly due to the HIV/Aids pandemic blighting the economically ravaged country, a United Nations official said on Sunday.
”Zimbabwe has the highest number of orphans per capita in the world,” James Elder, a spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) told the media.
”Most of these cases are due to HIV and Aids,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s HIV infection rates are currently at 20,1%, down from 24,6% two years ago.
At least 3 000 people die every week from Aids-related illnesses in the country of 12-million people, which is grappling with four-digit inflation, huge shortages of food and fuel, and spiralling unemployment and poverty.
The country’s ailing health sector has meanwhile suffered a gigantic blow with more than half of key medical professionals seeking jobs overseas, according to a report in a state-run weekly earlier this year.
”The economic crisis makes it much harder to look after these orphans, whereby 90% of these orphans are cared for by extended families,” Unicef’s Elder said.
”The [economic] crisis makes it harder to provide for basic services which children need, such as education, nutrition and health care.”
Meanwhile, an alliance of local child rights group on Sunday expressed concern at the growing incidence of child abuse.
The Child Protection Working Group (CPWG) said there were 8 600 cases of child abuse in Zimbabwe last year.
”That is 24 every day, or one every hour,” the CPWG said in a statement. ”More than half of all cases reported involve sexual abuse of children.”
The statement said the rise in child abuse could in part be attributed to prevalent myths such as the belief that Aids and sexually transmitted diseases could be cured by having sex with a virgin.
”This is the most repulsive of myths,” Betty Makoni, director of Girl Child Network, one of the members of CPWG, said.
”The time has come for all Zimbabweans to speak out and act against the abuse of country’s children.” — AFP
