HIV and AIDS
Yenziwe, 3, is too young to know her mother is dying of AIDS.
 A girl does her schoolwork while caring for her HIV-positive mother.
An HIV-positive widow will leave two daughters behind. |
The Need The AIDS pandemic is on a global march, killing more than 2 million people each year. Many of the victims are parents. Many die with no idea what will happen to their children afterward.
Across Africa, millions of children are caring for loved ones dying of AIDS. In communities where tradition dictates that no child be abandoned, even friends and neighbors have nothing left to give. A child as young as seven or eight may nurse her own mother right up to the end. This means watching someone you love die slowly, in unbearable pain. Burying them afterward. Then inheriting the mammoth task of providing all the necessities of life, often for many younger siblings.
Worldwide, 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS. The statistics can easily blur into rows of zeros. The World Vision Advocacy Team is committed to pushing past the numbers, remembering the needs of the individual children standing behind.
The Advocacy Team: Championing Children’s Rights
Resources for Journalists
Fast Facts for 2007
- 33 million people were living with HIV-AIDS. Source: World Health Organization
- More than 2 million children were living with HIV. Source: World Health Organization
- Nearly 6 thousand people died of AIDS each day, including nearly 800 children every day. Source: World Health Organization
- 2.5 million people were newly infected with HIV, including 420 thousand children. Source: World Health Organization
- World Vision HIV and AIDS prevention, care and advocacy can be found in 60 countries.
