Church official: Madonna's adoption plan shows Malawi's orphan woes

Published: 2006-11-01

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- The controversy over pop star Madonna's plan to adopt a Malawian boy highlights the need to find solutions for the growing number of orphans in the country, said a Catholic Church official. Chris Chisoni, head of the National Assembly liaison project of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe, said, "We can't solve the problem of orphans until we confront the underlying cause, which is AIDS." Half of Malawi's million orphans have lost one or both parents to AIDS, according to UNICEF. About 14 percent of the country's more than 12 million people are infected with HIV, which causes AIDS, said a UNAIDS report. "Everyone knows why people are dying in Malawi, yet the waiting list for HIV-positive people to get antiretroviral drugs is about six months," Chisoni told Catholic News Service in an Oct. 27 telephone interview from Lilongwe. "We need to provide these drugs when and as they are needed so that parents can live to raise their own children," he said.

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