The Namibian (Windhoek)

Namibia: Number of Orphans Up Due to AIDS

21 August 2002

The Health and Social Services Ministry has 4 000 orphans on its books, most of whom have been left without parents as a result of HIV-AIDS.

The Oshana Region's HIV-AIDS Co-ordinator, Albertina Haneb, said in Oshakati on Monday that the increasing number of orphans and HIV-AIDS patients in the region has become a burden "that requires indulgence from all stakeholders".

Haneb was addressing a World Health Organisation (WHO) delegation visiting the region at the invitation of the Ministry.

Head of the delegation and Programme Officer for WHO Regional Programme on AIDS in southern Africa, Louise ThomasMapleh, said the delegation wanted to help strengthen the country's HIV-AIDS Homestead Care Programme.

She was accompanied by WHO National Professional Officer for the TB Programme, Agnes Tjiramba, and Eunice Takawira, WHO consultant on community home-based care.

ThomasMaple and Takawira are both based in Zimbabwe.

Tagged: AIDS, Children, Health, Namibia, Southern Africa

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