about HIV and AIDS
UNAIDS describes the HIV and AIDS pandemic as the worst public health disaster in recorded history. Sub-Saharan Africa, an already poverty stricken area, is the worst-hit region in the world. With just over 10% of the world’s population, it is home to more than 60% of all people living with HIV.
The devastating effects can be seen at national, community and family level. The pandemic is affecting the economic development of countries that are already overburdened by debt. Businesses are losing their workers. Governments are losing their civil servants. Families are losing their breadwinners and millions of children are not only losing their parents, but their teachers, nurses and friends.
> The pandemic
> HIV-infected children
> Orphans
The pandemic
- 33.2 million people are living with HIV worldwide.
- 2.5 million people worldwide were newly infected with HIV in 2007.
- Only one in ten of all people living with the disease has been tested and knows that he or she is HIV-positive.
- Over 5,700 people die everyday because of AIDS-related illnesses – more than 4,000 of them live in Africa.
- 22.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are HIV-infected. Almost 61% of adults living with HIV are women.
- Everyday 5,000 young people (15-24 year olds) become infected with HIV.
- Only 23% of the estimated 4.6 million Africans in need of antiretroviral treatment are receiving it.
- The HIV-related stigma continues: in Uganda, roughly half the men and women surveyed said that if a family member contracted HIV they would prefer to keep that fact secret. (Ministry of Health Uganda, 2005)
- HIV prevalence varies greatly across Africa – from less than 1% in Mauritania to almost 33% in Swaziland.
- Every minute of every day a child under the age of 15 becomes infected with HIV.
- There are an estimated 2.5 million children under 15 years of age living with HIV worldwide. The vast majority are in sub-Saharan Africa.
- To date five million children have been infected – 90% of them were born in Africa.
- Without prevention efforts, 35% of children born to an HIV-positive mother will become infected with HIV. (Global Health Council)
- At least a quarter of HIV-infected newborns die before their first birthday and up to 60% will die before reaching their second birthday. (Global Health Council)
- Studies have shown that the use of antiretroviral therapy could reduce the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child by approximately 50%.
- AIDS is now the biggest single cause of death among children under the age of five.
- Many AIDS-affected families take children out of school to compensate for labour losses, increased care activities and competing expenses.
- 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS – 11.4 million are in sub-Saharan Africa.
- By 2010, one in five children will be orphaned in sub-Saharan Africa because of AIDS-related illnesses. The number of children orphaned worldwide is projected to exceed 25 million. (UNICEF/UNAIDS)
- In South Africa, 15% of all orphans lost their parents or caregivers in 2003. The vast majority were to AIDS.
- In South Africa, 3% of children aged 12–18 years say they are the heads of their households. (HSRC SA)
Source: UNAIDS (www.unaids.org) unless otherwise stated
