In Angola, girls of 12 sell themselves for as little as 40 cents to feed their families as the south of the country faces its worst drought in four decades, World Vision said.
LONDON, Jan 30 Thomson Reuters Foundation - Young girls in southern Africa are selling sex - sometimes for less than the cost of bread - to survive a hunger crisis ensnaring tens of millions, aid agencies said on Thursday.
The United Nations says a record 45 million people in southern Africa face hunger amid a "silent catastrophe" caused by repeated drought, widespread flooding and economic chaos. World Vision said staff had seen a significant increase in girls resorting to transactional sex in Angola and Zimbabwe amid "huge levels of desperation".
It's difficult to quantify because it's taboo Bulten said the price of some staples had doubled since last year. With the next harvest not due until June, he predicted hunger would worsen. In Zimbabwe, CARE International said there were reports of girls as young as 14 resorting to selling sex, especially en route to South Africa and near goldmines. ActionAid regional advisor Chikondi Chabvuta said women and girls "on the edge of survival" were forced into transactional sex in Mozambique and Malawi.
Swathes of southern Africa have experienced their lowest rainfall since , according to the United Nations, which says the crisis is fuelled by climate change as temperatures in the region rise at about twice the global rate. Aid workers said many of the girls would normally be in school. In some cases, they had dropped out because of deepening family poverty, but many schools had also closed.
