Article: HEALTH-BENIN: NUMBER OF AIDS ORPHANS SOARS TO 42,000

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COTONOU, Aug. 28 (IPS) -- Benin's first national study of AIDS orphans says 42,000 children have lost one or both parents to the killer disease. Innocent Kpoton, of the Cotonou-based National Program Against AIDS, says Benin's "AIDS orphans are creating a new social class" in the country. Statistics show that since July 1985, the date the first AIDS case was diagnosed in Benin, the number of people infected with the virus has reached about 160,000. With an infection rate of 4.1 percent, the country's caseload increases by about 45 each day, according to the National Program Against AIDS. If no action is taken to reduce the spread of the disease, about 246,000 ...

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