Oprah Winfrey Moved to Expose the Plight of AIDS Victims in Africa

Oprah Winfrey, who has been traveling in South Africa for the last three weeks, vowed to use her name to help humanize the AIDS pandemic ravaging sub-Saharan Africa. Cuddling children who had lost parents to the disease, Winfrey said in a Saturday Star interview that she feels a "higher calling" to raise international awareness of the plight of children who not only lose their parents but also die of the disease themselves.

"What happens to a generation of children left to fend for themselves?" Winfrey asked. "Unless someone does something now the orphans will change the face of this country and the continent," she said.

A photograph with the interview showed Winfrey at the bedside of a dying woman attended by her young daughter. "I felt angry that this mother has to suffer, that this little girl will not have a mother," she remarked. "You know, I heard antiretrovirals were not available to people, but it is a completely different, shocking experience to stand before someone who could be receiving it."

Winfrey and Nelson Mandela have been visiting AIDS orphanages and distributing gifts to needy children. Winfrey's foundation distributed 70 million rand (US$7 million) worth of Christmas gifts to about 50,000 South African children during her visit.

UNAIDS reports that 75 percent of HIV-positive people worldwide live in sub-Saharan Africa, with South Africa having the highest number of HIV-infected individuals. The government, which has been criticized for not taking sufficient steps to curb the pandemic -- South African public hospitals do not distribute AIDS drugs -- has recently shown signs of taking the issue more seriously. South African lawmakers have warned that over the next decade, 2 million children will have lost at least one parent to AIDS.

Back to other CDC news for December 26, 2002

Previous Updates