HIV/AIDS AND SCHOOL CHILDREN

IN SOUTH AFRICA

At least 28% of South African schoolgirls are HIV positive compared with 4% of boys because "sugar daddies" are exploiting them, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said.

He said 94,000 schoolgirls also fell pregnant in 2011, and 77,000 had abortions at state facilities, The Sowetan newspaper reports.

About 10% of South Africans are living with HIV, official statistics show.

Mr Motsoaledi has been widely praised for his efforts to curb the disease.

Speaking at a public meeting in the town of Carolina in South Africa's Mpumalanga province, Mr Motsoaledi said the large number of young girls who were HIV-positive "destroyed my soul".

"It is clear that it is not young boys who are sleeping with these girls. It is old men," The Sowetan quotes him as saying.

"We must take a stand against sugar daddies because they are destroying our children."

Mr Motsoaledi said some pregnant girls - aged between 10 and 14 years of age - also tested positive for HIV.

"[About] 77 000 girls had abortions at public facilities. We can no longer live like that. We want to put an end to it," he said.

More than five million people in South Africa are HIV-positive - about 10% of the total population.

source: BBC NEWS; 14/03/13

IN TANZANIA

Schoolchildren in Tanzania are being made to wear a red ribbon on their uniforms to show that they are HIV positive.

The headmaster of one of the schools, in the northwest district of Kibaha, said the unusual move was done at the parents' request to ensure ill pupils were not made to undertake tasks that might affect their health.

But campaigners say that revealing another person's HIV status is illegal under Tanzanian law and punishable by up to three years imprisonment.

Around five per cent of the population – some 1.4m people – have HIV in Tanzania. While the rate is no higher than in most East African countries, the infection rate for women is higher than for men and it is often transmitted to children.

Mohammed Lukema, head of Kibaha Primary School, said parents had asked for their children to wear red ribbons if they were infected so they could be excused from strenuous duties at the rural school, such as sweeping the compound and fetching and carrying water.

He insisted that they were not judged as a result. "Our school has pupils who are suffering from various diseases," he told the BBC

SOURCE: The Telegraph, 14/03/13

Wiki chache zilizopita wakati narudi nyumbani jioni, nilisikia mwanafunzi ambaye alionekana kwenye umri wa miaka kama 15 akimuambia mwenzake, huku wanatembea. " Mie bwana angu ...."

niliwaangalia mara mbili nikafikiri nimesikia vibaya, lakini wale watoto walikuwa very serious wakijadiliana juu ya "mabwana zao". mmmmh! kwa kweli...