Women Affairs Minister Zainab Maina has called on Nigerians to show care for HIV/AIDS infected children in order to ensure a better future for the victims.

She made the call during the commemoration of this year's World AIDs Day which was marked on Saturday.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, George Ossi, she said HIV/AIDS appeared to be the major contributing factor to the high population of orphans in the country. She said many children particularly in the rural areas lose one or both parents on a regular basis due to the infection.

Earlier, Director General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDs (NACA) Professor John Idoko, who was represented by the head of partnership coordination of the agency, Maimuna Mohammed, put the national prevalence rate of the disease at 4.1%, saying 3.6 million Nigerians were infected and 2.5 million orphaned by AIDS.