Interconnectedness: virus - governance - social instability

The HIV pandemic is continuing to destroy the social safety nets of sub-Saharan African countries.
Millions of children are being orphaned by AIDS.
Extended families, neighbors and NGOs are caring for many of these children, and in some cases young teens are caring for their younger siblings in "child-headed households".

A CIA report in 1999 considered HIV/AIDS as a threat to security, and General Colin Powell repeatedly stated that it was a greater threat than Iraq.

The article below gives an example of this interconnectedness.
Zambia is one of the better governed and better served countries as far as its response to HIV/AIDS is concerned.

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=45570

RIGHTS-ZAMBIA:
Vulnerable Children Must Fend For Themselves
Danstan Kaunda

LUSAKA, Jan 27 (IPS) - There will be as many as one and a half million orphaned children in Zambia by 2010. Deprived of adult guardians by the AIDS pandemic, many of these children will end up living in the streets of the country's major towns and cities.

The government disputes the size of the problem. According to figures released by the Central Statistical Office in 2007, there are only about 85,000 orphans and vulnerable children in Zambia. But the United Nations International Children's Educational Fund (UNICEF) and other international humanitarian aid agencies put the present figure at over one million.

It is clear that Zambia's social and economic fabric has been badly weakened by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. UNAIDS estimates 1.1 million Zambians are living with HIV/AIDS; the prevalence rate for the 15 to 49 year age group is 15.2 percent.

And as the pandemic cuts a wide path through the population, the number of orphan and vulnerable children (OVCs) increases. These children will face poverty, malnutrition and disease, and be unlikely struggle to get an education. Many will be exposed to violence, abuse and sexual exploitation.

See http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=45570 for the rest of the article.