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May 2003 Children Orphaned by AIDS Children are often the AIDS pandemic’s final victims even if they never contract the disease. The number of children orphaned by AIDS is staggering—in Ethiopia: 989,000; in Kenya: 892,000; in South Africa: 662,000. A total of 13,440,000 children were orphaned by AIDS worldwide by the end of 2002, according to UNICEF. The emotional trauma of losing family members to AIDS, severe poverty, and the loss of educational and legal rights all contribute to the misery and danger in which these children live. UNICEF reports that food consumption drops 40 percent or more in affected households. Children leave school to care for their sick and dying parents, and many never return. Once orphaned, these often socially ostracized, financially desperate youngsters are much more likely to be abused sexually or forced into sex work than others their age. AIDS orphans are also at far higher risk of HIV, other sexually transmitted infections, and unwanted pregnancies than their peers.
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