The Aids epidemic blighting parts of Africa is feeding the trade in child trafficking, the solicitor general warned last week.

Harriet Harman told a conference in London on sexual offences against children that the virus was "creating a new source of child trafficking".

Families stricken by Aids often struggled to cope and were forced to send their children to the UK or other European countries in the hope they would "have a better life".

Harman warned that the "modern day slavery" of child trafficking was a "new and growing threat" that professionals and the government needed to be alert to.

"As well as Eastern European countries and parts of south Asia such as Thailand, I am concerned about African countries. We cannot be precise but we know it is going on."

Harman, who was also a member of the House of Commons standing committee on the Sexual Offences Act 2003 while it was going through parliament, said it was essential that social services, the police and the voluntary sector worked together with the immigration service to combat the problem.

She added that more work would also need to be done by the Department for International Development to tackle child trafficking across Europe and that the government needed to step up its efforts to combat it.