The pediatric hospital in Almaty, Kazakhstan's business capital (RFE/RL)
September 7, 2006 – Kazakh authorities say the number of HIV-infected children in the south of the country has reached 49.
Authorities in Shymkent instigated wide-scale testing after the discovery in July that 14 children had been inflected. They believe the children were infected with the virus by non-sterilized syringes, or transfusions of contaminated blood in three separate children's hospitals in the area.
The Kazakh Health Ministry confirmed the new figure in a statement, saying more than 6,000 children remained to be tested for HIV in the region.
Kazakh parliamentarian Yerasyl Abylkasymov on September 6 said he had asked the prosecutor-general's office to prosecute Southern Kazakhstan Region's health and administration officials.
(Kazakhstan Today, Interfax-Kazakhstan)
RFE/RL Central Asia Report
RFE/RL Central Asia Report
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