KZN teachers feel HIV/AIDS impact

The teaching fraternity in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province has expressed concern over the impact of HIV/AIDS on the profession.

At a national conference in Empangeni, on the northern coast, to discuss ways of addressing the problem, Roger Shazi, co-ordinator of the National Teachers' Union, noted that "scores of teachers" were succumbing to the disease.

"Teachers are the worst affected people ... [but] it is not a problem that has started now, it has been there for quite some time," the South African Broadcasting Corporation quoted Shazi as saying.

A study by the Human Sciences Research Council, covering more than 20,000 respondents in 54 districts last year, showed that some 12.7 percent of educators were living with the HI virus.

This item is delivered to the English Service of the United Nations' Humanitarian Information Unit but, may not necessarily reflect the views of the UN.