Chirac links African water shortages to AIDS

PARIS, Feb 4 (Reuters) African girls who sometimes walk a long way to fetch water end up with AIDS after having sex far from their villages, French President Jacques Chirac said.

At a conference looking at the consequences of environmental damage, Chirac yesterday said girls suffered most in African villages where it was too expensive to dig a well. Shortages often meant having to get water from far away.

''The girls fetch water, they spend their days fetching water,'' he told an audience of several hundred people at the Elysee Palace during a two-day conference about the environment.

''This has a double result: there are no girls at school -- the girls get no education, education is reserved for boys,'' he said.

''Second result: they get water often a long way away, they have meetings that are not strictly needed and that's how AIDS spreads,'' he said. ''It's an important factor in the spread of AIDS.'' REUTERS AKJ KP0909