AIDS to orphan 30 million in 10 years.
The 13th International AIDS conference in Durban, South Africa, heard last week that within 10 years, more than 30 million children will lose at least one of their parents to the disease.
This forecast was presented to the conference by the aid agency USAID, in their report titled 'Children on the brink'.
"The HIV/AIDS pandemic is producing orphans on a scale unrivalled in world history", the report says.
"Historically, large-scale orphaning has been a sporadic, short-term problem caused by war, famine or disease. AIDS has transformed it into a long-term chronic problem."
The report states that sub-Saharan Africa will be the world's worst affected region, as it is presently home to 24.5 million of the world's 34 million known sufferers.
The report said over 61% of children have already lost at least one parent in Zambia, 41% in Tanzania, 57% in Zimbabwe, and 40% in Kenya.