南非近三成在校女生攜艾滋病毒

At least 28% of South African schoolgirls are HIV positive compared with 4% of boys because "sugar daddies" are exploiting them, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said.

He said 94,000 schoolgirls also fell pregnant in 2011, and 77,000 had abortions at state facilities, The Sowetan newspaper reports.

About 10% of South Africans are living with HIV, official statistics show.

Mr Motsoaledi has been widely praised for his efforts to curb the disease.

South Africa has run the world's largest anti-retroviral (ARV) programme since President Jacob Zuma appointed him health minister in 2009.

The number of HIV-positive people receiving life-saving ARV drugs more than doubled from 678,500 to 1.5 million after he took office, according to official statistics.

The government of former President Thabo Mbeki, who questioned the link between HIV and Aids, had argued it could not afford to roll out this treatment to all the South Africans who needed it.

Speaking at a public meeting in the town of Carolina in South Africa's Mpumalanga province, Mr Motsoaledi said the large number of young girls who were HIV-positive "destroyed my soul".

"It is clear that it is not young boys who are sleeping with these girls. It is old men," The Sowetan quotes him as saying.

"We must take a stand against sugar daddies because they are destroying our children."

Mr Motsoaledi said some pregnant girls - aged between 10 and 14 years of age - also tested positive for HIV.

"[About] 77 000 girls had abortions at public facilities. We can no longer live like that. We want to put an end to it," he said.

More than five million people in South Africa are HIV-positive - about 10% of the total population.

Last year more than 260,000 people with Aids died - almost half the figure of all those who died in the country.南非衛生部長亞倫•莫特索亞雷迪近日表示，至少28%的南非在校女生攜帶艾滋病病毒，在校男生攜帶艾滋病病毒的比例只有4%。造成這一局面的主要“肇事者”是誘惑女生的“老色迷”。

據《索威坦報》報道，亞倫•莫特索亞雷迪表示，2011年，共有94000名南非在校女生懷孕，其中77000人選擇在公立醫院墮胎。

官方數據顯示，大約10%的南非人是艾滋病毒攜帶者。

莫特索亞雷迪因在南非發起了大規模的治療艾滋病項目而備受稱讚。

自南非總統雅各布•祖馬在2009年任命他爲衛生部長後，南非掀起了全球最大規模的抗逆轉錄病毒（ARV）項目。

官方數據顯示，莫特索亞雷迪上任後，艾滋病毒攜帶者接受ARV藥物治療的人數從67萬8500人增加到150萬人，是原來的兩倍多。這種藥物能夠拯救艾滋病患者的生命。

南非前總統塔博•姆貝基質疑HIV病毒和艾滋病之間的關係，當時的南非政府聲稱無力爲需要此種藥物療法的所有南非人提供治療。

莫特索亞雷迪說，攜帶艾滋病毒的年輕女孩如此之多，這“摧毀了他的靈魂”。他在南非普馬加蘭省小鎮卡羅琳娜的一次公開集會上做出了上述表示。

《索威坦報》引述他的話說，“很明顯，並不是年輕男孩與這些在校女生髮生關係所致，而是年長的男性誘惑女生髮生性關係導致”。

“我們必須反對‘甜爹’，他們正在害我們的孩子們。”

他說，一些懷孕的女孩僅有10到14歲，而且也查出是艾滋病毒攜帶者.

他說：“去年大約有77000名女孩選擇在公立醫院墮胎。不能再這樣下去了，我們要做出改變。”

南非艾滋病毒攜帶者超過500萬人，佔全國人口的約10%。

去年，超過26萬艾滋病患者死亡，幾乎佔到南非全年死亡人口的一半。