AIDS explained to kids in new book

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- A green pock-faced monster with red eyes and fangs is depicted as the HIV virus in a new children's book that seeks to explain the science of AIDS to South African children. \nIn the book, "Staying Alive, Fighting HIV/AIDS,'' colorful pictures and simple text describe how the deadly HIV virus invades the immune system and multiplies throughout the body. \nBy explaining the science of the virus and giving frank answers on how it is transmitted, the book's British authors and American publisher hope to teach the children of South Africa how to stay safe. \nOne in nine South Africans is HIV positive -- the highest rate in the world. \nIn researching the project, author Fran Balkwill and illustrator Mic Rolph, both from London, spoke to South African children -- from those living in shacks in poor townships to those attending affluent suburban white schools -- to ask them what they wanted to know about AIDS. \n"They essentially wrote the book for us," said Balkwill, a cancer researcher who has co-authored several children's science books with Rolph. \nThey recorded their interviews with the children who all wanted the same questions answered: how is one infected, is there a cure, what is a vaccine? \nThe book, published by the New York publisher, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, is being distributed free to 20,000 South African children. \nIt is aimed at children between the ages of about 11 and 17, and its backers hope to raise more money so it can be distributed to all South African children. Eventually they also hope to make versions of it available to children in other countries where the disease has also reached epidemic proportions. \nIn South Africa an estimated 4.7 million people are infected with HIV. Thousands of children have been orphaned and the virus is spreading most rapidly among the young. \nDenial of the scope of the crisis both on a government and community level has made educating the public a special challenge.