Mozambique: Children Dropping Out of School Because of AIDS, Officials Warn

Up to 1 million children have dropped out of school in Mozambique, a government official said Thursday. Higidio Marrule, of the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry, said children are left to fend for themselves after losing one or both parents to AIDS. Many end up on the streets, he told an international AIDS conference in Maputo. Even those taken in by their extended families often find their relatives unable to afford their care. Marrule appealed to all sectors of society to help meet the challenges of the pandemic. "People must understand that the AIDS problem is not the problem of the government or of charity organizations, but it is for society as a whole," he said. Thirteen percent of Mozambique's 17 million people have HIV.

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