11 June 2008
Lagos — United Nations Interna-tional Children's Emer-gency Fund (UNICEF) has said that about 930,000 Nigerian children are orphaned by HIV and AIDS.
The UNICEF Deputy Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Maman Sadikou, who made the disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Kaduna, said Nigeria had an estimated 8 million orphans.
"With the spread of HIV and AIDS in Nigeria, the number of orphans is expected to increase to 8.2 million by
2010," Sadikou told NAN after the Access Bank/Emir of Kastina Charity Polo Tournament.
The tournament was organised by the Fifth Chukker Club in partnership with UNICEF to promote the global campaign against HIV and AIDS pandemic, particularly as it affects children.
"AIDS is perceived as a problem mainly for adults and children are missing from the statistics, missing the basic services and information,"the UNICEF official said.
He said the tournament was timely to support the current efforts at raising awareness on the plight of children infected or affected by HIV and AIDS.
Sadikou called on stakeholders, including the private sector, civil society organisations, the media and all levels of government to make practical contributions to the welfare of children.
Sadikou noted that the N6 million raised at the Polo Tournament to support UNICEF HIV and AIDS programme would go a long a way to consolidate project interventions.
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