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The global HIV/AIDS epidemic threatens to reverse decades of progress in health and social and economic development in many of the poorest countries in the world. HIV spreads rapidly, affecting children, youth, mothers, families, and communities. The levels of infection and loss vary by country, but the impact of HIV/AIDS is extensive and affects all levels of society across generations, particularly in high prevalence countries. While numbers illustrate the frightening reach of this disease, they are only part of the story. Every number represents individuals, families, and communities who struggle to survive in the face of this crisis.
Global HIV/AIDS Snapshot:
- Over 33 million people live with HIV/AIDS throughout the world; 2.5 million of whom are children under the age 15
- In 2007, 2.5 million people were newly infected with HIV and more than 2.1 million people died from AIDS-related causes.
- Though sub-Saharan Africa has been most severely affected by HIV/AIDS, the epidemic has shown a rapid increase in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Oceania.
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Children: Numbers in Need is Growing
Children are among the most vulnerable victims of HIV/AIDS in the developing world. The AIDS crisis is destabilizing families and entire societies, leaving millions of children without the care and support they need to survive and thrive. As parents get sick and die of AIDS, family burdens shift to children, particularly girls, who are often forced to leave school to earn money, obtain food, care for the ill and other family members. Stigmatization and discrimination often carries over to the children of HIV positive parents, making their fight for survival that much more challenging. These children face limited access to education and economic opportunities, inadequate nourishment and nutrition, risk of exploitation and abuse, and the pain of bereavement from the loss of parental love, guidance and protection, as well as a greater risk of becoming infected with HIV as they grow into young adults.
- Over 15 million children have lost a parent to AIDS and this number is expected to exceed 25 million by 2010.
- The number of orphans in sub-Saharan Africa who have lost their parents to AIDS has increased from less than 1 million in 1990 to more than 11.4 million in 2007.
- Every day, about 1,150 children become infected with HIV, mostly due to mother-to-child transmission.
- Nearly 90% of all HIV positive children live in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Ten children die of of AIDS-related illness every 15 minutes.
Young People: New Infections Occurring at an Alarming Rate
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The AIDS epidemic is a problem for youth everywhere, but affects youth very differently depending on the region and the stage of the epidemic. In the generalized epidemics of southern and eastern Africa, 10% or more of youth are infected with HIV while in regions where general rates of HIV infection are typically less than 1%, the epidemic is still concentrated in high risk groups, and those youth infected with HIV generally are engaging in high risk behaviors such as injecting drug use, commercial sex, and male-to-male sex.
Young girls in particular are often marginalized by social and economic norms and face increased risk of infection through sexual relationships (particularly with older men) and early marriage. Definitions of masculinity and expected roles and responsibilities of men lead young men to engage in high risk behaviors, including sex with multiple partners, commercial sex, and the abuse of alcohol and drugs.
- Over 11.8 million youth are infected with HIV
- Young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are the fastest-growing group of newly infected persons living with HIV/AIDS, accounting for 40% of all new infections.
- Girls are at greater risk of contracting the disease, bear a disproportionate share of its burden and comprise the majority of new infections globally; girls are nearly five times more likely to be infected by HIV than boys in some African nations.
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HIV infection is more common among young men than young women in lower prevalence nations in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Middle East, North Africa, and Latin America
Mothers and Other Women: Fighting the Odds
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Women are increasingly at risk of HIV/AIDS infection throughout the world, particularly as youth. Women and girls are less likely to have the social and economic power needed to negotiate their sexual activity and protection from infection with HIV. Poverty unfairly discriminates against young girls and women, often forcing a girl to leave school to work or to help out at home, also depriving her of a vital tool that could protect her from the disease – an education. Girls who are better educated tend to delay marriage and childbearing, have smaller families, achieve economic security, take better care of their health and have fewer sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. Yet, as the number of young girls and women living with HIV/AIDS increases, so too does the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, which can occur during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding.
- By the end of 2007, 46% of all people living with HIV/AIDS were women; 76% of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa.
- In developing countries, less than 10% of pregnant women testing positive for HIV receive services to prevent transmission to their infants.
- Without preventive measures, 35% of children born to HIV positive women will contract the virus. Half of all parent-to-child transmission occurs through delivery and a third through breastfeeding.
(Sources: 2007 UNAIDS, UNICEF, CDC)
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