USAID on Monday announced that it is donating $7.6 million to provide quality comprehensive care to 8,616 AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in Nigeria, the country's Vanguard reports.

Yemi Osilaja -- executive director of HOPE worldwide, whose Nigerian chapter will receive the aid -- said that HIV/AIDS has left about one million children without parents in Nigeria and that the unprecedented number of orphans and other vulnerable children is an indication of the magnitude of the country's HIV/AIDS epidemic. Osilaja also cited UNAIDS estimates that 25 million African children will become orphans by 2010, and that an additional 55 million Africans will die of HIV/AIDS-related causes by 2020. He added that a lack of adequate care and support for children affected by HIV/AIDS will have negative long-term effects on their development, their communities and the future of African nations.

According to the Vanguard, the aid will support a three-year project called "Assistance and Care for Children Orphaned and at Risk." HOPE worldwide Nigeria also said it will use the funding to improve nongovernmental organizations' capacity to respond to HIV/AIDS in various communities (Obinna, Vanguard, 6/30).