ABOUT nine million children in Africa have lost a mother to AIDS, British charity Save the Children says, calling on donors to sharply increase aid to meet their needs.
"Incredibly, the impact of HIV and AIDS on children is still being ignored," Save the Children Chief Executive Jasmine Whitbread said in a statement today.
A lack of testing facilities meant many mothers, especially in the poorest countries, did not know their HIV status until they were ill and were unable to fight off even the simplest infections, the charity said in a report.
"The AIDS pandemic robs millions of children of their childhoods as well as their mothers," Ms Whitbread said.
"Children are caring for their mothers, missing school, and having to work because their mothers are too sick to look after them."
The charity called for a focus on children orphaned by AIDS as well as sick parents, adding red tape was slowing aid flows.
"Donors must spend 12 per cent of their AIDS funding on proper support for children," it said, adding this would amount to $US6.4 billion ($8.8 billion).
It did not give any comparisons for the current amount of aid for children affected by AIDS.
The charity addressed its appeal to the G8 wealthy nations, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the World Bank and the European Commission.
Sub-Saharan Africa has about 10 per cent of the world's population but 60 per cent of the people living with HIV/AIDS.
More than three million Africans were infected with HIV in 2005, representing 64 per cent of all new infections globally and more than in any previous year for the impoverished continent, according to UNAIDS, the lead UN agency against AIDS.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 4.6 per cent of young women aged 15 to 24 are infected with HIV, compared to 1.7 per cent of young men, according to UN data.
Save the Children said most of the 19.2 million women living with HIV around the globe were already mothers.
"To truly make a difference we must also support children whose mothers are HIV positive," it said.
"In sub-Saharan Africa alone, more than 12 million children under the age of 15 have lost one or both parents to AIDS. By 2010, at current rates of HIV infection, this number is likely to increase to 18 million," Save the Children said.
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