Oprah Winfrey Offers Free HIV Tests to Students 1/9/07

Oprah Winfrey is offering free HIV tests to all students at her newly founded Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.

Many of the pupils attending the Academy come from families affected by Aids, and the spread of the disease in South Africa is so vast that fewer than half of 15-year-olds will live to the age of 60, according to research by the Medical Research Council.

Winfrey, who underwent a HIV test herself, tells PageSix.com, "Today I have taken the test to demonstrate why it is so important."

The media mogul set up the $40 million (#20.4 million) school for disadvantaged girls in the small town of Henley-on-Klip, south of Johannesburg, with the aim to give 152 girls from deprived backgrounds a high quality education.

The opening ceremony last Tuesday (02JAN07) was attended by singers Tina Turner, Mariah Carey, director Spike Lee, and former South African President Nelson Mandela.