Health experts made a public appeal yesterday in Beijing for more support from society for children whose lives have been affected by HIV and AIDS, in anticipation of today's worldwide recognition of the 16th World AIDS Day.

Globally, 13.4 million children under the age of 15 have lost one or both parents to HIV and AIDS by 2001, according to figures from the United Nations' Children's Fund (UNICEF) Beijing Office.

Orphaned children are disadvantaged in a number of ways. In addition to psychological distress and economic hardship, they are likely to withdraw from school, suffer from malnutrition and a variety of illnesses, feel fearful and isolated and become more vulnerable to being afflicted with HIV themselves.

All of this was revealed by Koen Vanormelingen, chief of the Health and Nutrition Section of the UNICEF Office for China, during a forum on the care for the children affected by HIV/AIDS.

The forum was co-sponsored by UNICEF and the China Working Committee for Caring for the Next Generation.

A recent survey on orphans whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS in some areas of China has highlighted the need for more domestic attention on this issue.

The survey interviewed 231 orphans whose lives have been altered by these afflictions, along with 42 local officials in five counties in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, Central China's Henan Province and North China's Shanxi Province.

Among the orphans surveyed, 188 reported various kinds of physical and mental ailments and 75 reported they had sleeping difficulties or nightmares more frequently after the death of their parents.

The survey also found that most of the local officials knew little about these children and that they tended to underestimate the difficulties the orphans face.

Apart from being victims of HIV and AIDS, the orphans also mean lost productivity for society along with a surge in the transient population, increases in public and national insecurity and decreased growth due to fear among investors, said Vanormelingen. He added that orphans only represent "the tip of the iceberg".

Zeng Yi, an academic with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said only effective control of the epidemic can help solve the problem and stop more children from being affected by HIV and AIDS.

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