COTE D'IVOIRE: Orphans targeted by new national action plan

Some 600,000 orphans and more than one million people living with HIV/AIDS in Cote d' Ivoire are expected to benefit from a new national action plan.

Ivorian authorities validated the plan during a recent workshop attended by HIV/AIDS experts, government officials, representatives of development partners and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the former capital, Abidjan.

Ivorian first lady, Simone Gbagbo, was quoted by the Pan African News Agency (PANA) as saying: "This plan comes as a framework and an instrument to reduce the number of children who are victims of HIV/AIDS."

It was estimated that close to US $4 million would be needed to implement the two-year plan beginning in 2004, which aims to improve the living conditions of orphans and other people affected by the pandemic.

The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Cote d'Ivoire has officially been put at 10.5 percent of a national population of almost 17 million people.

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

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