Azerbaijan, Baku, May 26/Trend M. Moezzi /
The HIV virus is 45 times more prevalent among Iran's street children than the rest of the population.
Social worker Farshid Yazdani said that 4.5 percent of Iran's street children are infected with the HIV virus which causes AIDS, the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) reports.
Street children spend their days selling items ranging from socks to chewing gums or gathering recyclable material from trash bins. Some are as young as 10 when they start using narcotics and alcohol.
About 20 percent of these children have used narcotics and 40 percent have consumed alcohol, Yazadani said.
The social worker pointed to the government policy, inflation, worsening economy and poverty as the main reasons why families send their children to work.