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AIDS taking toll on youth
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THE plight of South African AIDS boy activist Nkosi Johnson has sparked new fears over the impact of the deadly disease on the country's young.
Eleven-year-old Nkosi, who has become the public face of the deadly disease in South Africa, remained in a critical condition on Wednesday after suffering a series of seizures that have left him in a semi-comatose state.
Nkosi's condition prompted front-page newspaper stories detailing alarming evidence that children were infected by HIV-AIDS in ever greater numbers.
At least 200 babies were now being born HIV-positive every day — more than 70,000 AIDS births a year — and at least half of the children in paediatric wards were HIV-positive.
Nkosi was infected at birth by his HIV-positive mother. His message of safe sex and drug use has become a rallying cry in the battle against AIDS which has killed far more South Africans than the struggle against apartheid.
Some 4.2 million South Africans — or one in 10 of the population — are estimated to have the disease.
Health experts warn five to seven million South Africans could be living with the disease within the next 10 years if nothing is done to change sexual behaviour.(SD-Agencies)
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