TV project raises awareness, monies for Tanzanian AIDS patients and orphans.

By Ruta Mutakyahwa

However, it is not just adults who are affected; their children also are, leading to the alarming problem of AIDS orphans. The 1999 Tanzania Reproductive and Child Health Survey shows that about 9 percent of all Tanzanian children under the age of 15 are orphans mostly due to AIDS. The Eastern and Southern African Universities Research Programme has estimated the total number of HIV/AIDS orphans at 2,549,885, and the number is projected to reach 4 million by 2010. These orphans face a shortage of basic needs. And they run the risk of not being enrolled in school, being withdrawn from class, becoming working children, living on the streets and being sexually abused.