S. African AIDS Orphans Found Abandoned, Starving: Study

Children orphaned by AIDS in South Africa are starving and sick, often unknown to their communities, or abandoned by them, while others become prostitutes largely to feed themselves, according to a study released today.

"In the east Rand [near Johannesburg] six children stayed alone for almost 18 months . . . at the stage they were discovered they were almost dying and did not even want to go with the ambulance," said Lungi Mabude, a researcher on child-headed households. Alf Nghalaluma, director of the research agency Africa Now, said that a check of the town of Melmoph, northeast of Durban, found 350 children heading households. The researchers learned that "food security was the biggest problem and biggest priority" for these children. "When you go to any of these children and ask what they need, the primary request is food . . . they tell you 'I have not had good food the last three days,'" said Nghalaluma.

According to Irene Menell, a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund that commissioned the study, "It is fairly common . . . that children have been forced into prostitution to feed themselves and their families." She said that the study showed that there is "an enormous need for crisis intervention as well as long term development strategies," adding that the Children's Fund was trying to do both.

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