- COP29 fight looms over climate funds for developing world
- Shanghai stocks soar to extend stimulus rally amid Asia-wide drop
- Will Tesla's robotaxi reveal live up to hype?
- 'Invisibility' and quantum computing tipped for physics Nobel
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street falls
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Weather may delay launch of mission to study deflected asteroid
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on US jobs data
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- Tunisia incumbent Saied set to win presidential vote: exit polls
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Oil extends gains, jobs report lifts Wall Street
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Top EU court finds against FIFA in key transfer market ruling
- Oil extends gains, Hong Kong stocks resume rally
- 'A man provides': Ukrainian miners send families away as Russia advances
- EU states greenlight extra tariffs on EVs from China
- Hong Kong stocks resume rally, oil dips after Middle East-fuelled surge
- Crude stable after Israel-Iran surge, Hong Kong stocks resume gains
- Hera spacecraft to probe asteroid deflected by defence test
- US dockworkers to head back to work after tentative deal
- After Helene's destruction, North Carolina starts to rebuild
- Dockers end three-day strike at Montreal port
- What next for OpenAI after $157 billion bonanza?
- Israel-Hamas war causes 86-percent dive in Gaza GDP: IMF
- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
- 'Devastating' storm hits Augusta National but Masters will go on
RBGPF | -1.97% | 58.94 | $ | |
BCC | 1.68% | 141.27 | $ | |
JRI | -0.76% | 13.18 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.09% | 24.79 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.53% | 24.57 | $ | |
GSK | -0.49% | 38.63 | $ | |
AZN | -0.78% | 76.87 | $ | |
SCS | -0.15% | 12.95 | $ | |
RELX | -0.54% | 46.04 | $ | |
RIO | -0.11% | 69.62 | $ | |
NGG | -1.56% | 65.48 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.45% | 6.88 | $ | |
BCE | -0.54% | 33.53 | $ | |
BTI | -0.26% | 35.2 | $ | |
VOD | 0.31% | 9.69 | $ | |
BP | 0.78% | 33.14 | $ |
'Army of orphans': The price of S.Africa's AIDS scourge
At the age of 13, Ndumiso Gamede was orphaned when his parents died at the peak of the AIDS epidemic in South Africa.
He was left to raise his two young brothers -- a gruelling battle against isolation, stigma and poverty.
Gamede, now aged 28, points to pictures of his parents hanging on the wall in a low-lit boxy garage he calls home.
"They were both HIV positive," he said.
He said he had no-one to guide him during his most vulnerable teenage years and "almost did crime" just to survive, and "drugs" to cope.
As World AIDS Day looms on December 1, the plight of South Africa's AIDS orphans remains a stain on a country that has otherwise made huge inroads into epidemic.
National prevalence of the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS is still among the highest on the globe, at 13.7 percent.
But deaths have dramatically fallen, thanks to a rollout of anti-retrovirals (ARVs) -- drugs that, through a tragic combination of cost and political denial, were not available to poor South Africans when the disease was at its zenith.
More than 5.4 million out of an estimated 8.2 million infected people take ARVs in South Africa, which has one of the world's biggest HIV treatment programmes.
The lifesaving drugs also mean that the number of infected AIDS orphans has declined, said Agnes Mokoto, who runs an orphan programme at the Cape Town-based charity Networking HIV and AIDS Community of Southern Africa.
- 'Army of orphans' -
According to UNAIDS, there were 960,000 AIDS orphans in South Africa, compared to 1.9 million in 2009. Any child who has lost one or both parents to HIV is defined as an orphan.
The gap in the country's population pyramid due to the epidemic created a lost generation, particularly of young parents.
"(In) the dark days at the beginning of the millennium, people were dying in droves, and that created an army of orphans," said Professor Linda-Gail Bekker, head of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation.
Gamede's parents died at a particular painful time, when AIDS denialism was rooted in South Africa's government, starting with the then president, Thabo Mbeki.
According to a Harvard University study, misguided policies and the promotion of quack cures caused more than 330,000 deaths.
Discrimination against people with HIV was intense, and those orphaned by the disease felt it most.
Gamede and his two brothers had to fight to survive after they were shunned by his extended family.
"After my parents died, they turned their back on us, they did not want to know... what we lacked," he said deep in thought.
He lives in Vosloorus, a township 30 kilometres (18 miles) southeast of Johannesburg, filled with dusty streets and makeshift dwellings.
- Identity papers -
Even getting documented is an added battle for some orphans.
Nonhlanhla Mazaleni who heads a shelter for AIDS orphans in Johannesburg says she cares for 21 young people who are living with HIV and don't have IDs" because they were abandoned after being orphaned.
"One of the kids is deaf, he came to us when he was two years old, he's now 24 with no job and because he has no ID, he can't claim for a disability grant," she said.
Now a new father of one, Gamede looks proudly at his computer screen as he plays his music video, singing along as he nods to the beat.
A grey baby crib stands next to Gamede's bed, a foam mattress placed on the floor.
He finds solace in rap music while looking for employment, which he says has proven difficult because he could not further his studies.
He also hosts groups of young people orphaned by HIV/AIDS and offers gardening classes as a form of therapy.
But his life is hard.
Had AIDS not ravaged his family, Gamede believes "opportunities... would have been easy. Life would not be like this."
St.Ch.Baker--CPN