KABUL, Afghanistan, 1 December 2008 With 504 recorded cases, Afghanistan has a relatively low number of confirmed HIV cases, but experts on the disease are raising alarm bells for an expected rise in reported numbers, especially among street children. Children are at high risk to contract HIV in Afghanistan, said Dr. Malalai Ahmadzai, UNICEF Maternal Health and HIV Specialist. Those children who have lost their parents due to war, those children who are doing street work and labour, and also those children who may be at risk because of transmission from mother to child. In Afghanistan there is an issue of child vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, he said. The modes of HIV transmission in Afghanistan are also taboo subjects that cant be openly discussed. Included in these taboo subjects are male-to-male sex with children and intravenous drug use. He added that the lack of dialogue on taboo subjects is contributing to the epidemic. To read the full story, visit: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/afghanistan_46717.html