AIDS has already orphaned 20,000 children in Nepal, and there are an estimated 5000 children living with HIV/AIDS

KATHMANDU, Dec 11: AIDS has already orphaned 20,000 children in Nepal, and there are an estimated 5000 children living with HIV/AIDS, says the world’s children report 2010, released Wednesday by the UN’s Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

The children belong to 0-14 age group, and the figures are based on figures updated until 2001-end. The situation, according to the report, is no less appalling in such neighbouring countries as Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.

While the report is silent on the situation of HIV/AIDS among children in China, it says that there are an estimated 170,000 children who are living with HIV/AIDS in India, Nepal’s giant neighbour in the south with which it shares an open border