南非近三成在校女生携艾滋病毒

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.

南非卫生部长亚伦•莫特索亚雷迪近日表示，至少28%的南非在校女生携带艾滋病病毒，在校男生携带艾滋病病毒的比例只有4%。造成这一局面的主要“肇事者”是诱惑女生的“老色迷”。

据《索威坦报》报道，亚伦•莫特索亚雷迪表示，2011年，共有94000名南非在校女生怀孕，其中77000人选择在公立医院堕胎。

官方数据显示，大约10%的南非人是艾滋病毒携带者。

莫特索亚雷迪因在南非发起了大规模的治疗艾滋病项目而备受称赞。

自南非总统雅各布•祖马在2009年任命他为卫生部长后，南非掀起了全球最大规模的抗逆转录病毒（ARV）项目。

官方数据显示，莫特索亚雷迪上任后，艾滋病毒携带者接受ARV药物治疗的人数从67万8500人增加到150万人，是原来的两倍多。这种药物能够拯救艾滋病患者的生命。

南非前总统塔博•姆贝基质疑HIV病毒和艾滋病之间的关系，当时的南非政府声称无力为需要此种药物疗法的所有南非人提供治疗。

莫特索亚雷迪说，携带艾滋病毒的年轻女孩如此之多，这“摧毁了他的灵魂”。他在南非普马加兰省小镇卡罗琳娜的一次公开集会上做出了上述表示。

《索威坦报》引述他的话说，“很明显，并不是年轻男孩与这些在校女生发生关系所致，而是年长的男性诱惑女生发生性关系导致”。

“我们必须反对‘甜爹’，他们正在害我们的孩子们。”

他说，一些怀孕的女孩仅有10到14岁，而且也查出是艾滋病毒携带者.

他说：“去年大约有77000名女孩选择在公立医院堕胎。不能再这样下去了，我们要做出改变。”

南非艾滋病毒携带者超过500万人，占全国人口的约10%。

去年，超过26万艾滋病患者死亡，几乎占到南非全年死亡人口的一半。