LESOTHO: Revision of AIDS estimates urged

HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in Lesotho could be much higher than previously estimated, the international NGO, CARE, said on Monday.

UNAIDS estimates that 31 percent of Lesotho's adults aged between 15 and 49 are living with HIV/AIDS.

However, CARE HIV/AIDS coordinator, Gillian Forrest, said recent information and anecdotal information suggested the percentage was "probably closer to late thirties, early forties".

Forrest argued that 120,000 AIDS orphans was unusually high for a country with an overall population of around 2.2 million.

"The latest prevalence survey was done in 2000, but that was done at very limited sites," the Voice Of America (VOA) news service quoted Forrest as saying.

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews, Children,

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]