|
Globally the AIDS epidemic has claimed an estimate
3.1 million lives in 2005; more than half a million
510 000
were children. A child under 15 dies of an AIDS –
related illness every minute of every day and a
young person aged between 15 – 24 contracts HIV
every 15 seconds.
According to the newly released UNAIDS/WHO AIDS
Epidemic Update report, Sub-Saharan Africa, with
just over 10% of the world’s population, is home to
more than 60% of all people living with HIV - a
staggering 25.8 million. Every day, around 1,400
children under 15 die of AIDS-related illnesses and
more than 6,000 young people aged 15 to 24 are newly
infected with HIV. Over 15 million children have
lost at least one parent because of AIDS, and
millions more have seen their communities
disintegrate.
Southern Africa remains the epicentre of the global
AIDS epidemic and the HIV/AIDS epidemic is having a
disturbing impact on the regions children. Not
surprisingly, this region also has the largest
number of orphans.
Nothing like this has ever happened before in Africa
and the traditional extended family is taking severe
strain. But this age-old social safety net, where
extended family members take in and care for most
children orphaned by AIDS or other diseases, can no
longer cope due to the rapid rising number of OVCs.
HIV/AIDS is now a children’s disease, robbing tens
of millions of their futures.
Worldwide the number of children who lack access to
basic food, health care, education, and psychosocial
support is growing. And an increasing number of
children are forced to find some means of generating
the income needed to ensure their own survival.
According to the International Labor Organization,
HIV/AIDS increases the chances that orphaned and
neglected children will be subjected to child labor,
particularly as agricultural or commercial sex
workers, in order to survive. Orphans and children
made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS are also more likely to
become homeless, institutionalised, or victims of
sexual violence, all of which in return again
increase their risk of HIV exposure.
UNICEF Canada President David Agnew writes in
Vancouver Sun that there are 12.5 million AIDS
orphans in Africa, and the number could grow to 20
million by 2010. In Zimbabwe alone nearly one
million children are orphaned as a result of AIDS
(out of a total population of 12.9million) and
although the majority of orphans are cared for by
their relatives, the "sheer number combined with the
wretched economy ... has put enormous strain on
those supports ... [and] orphans are increasingly
left to fend for themselves."
A new report released by the Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in June 2005
estimates that $6.3 billion is needed to provide a
minimal response to the growing OVC crisis for the
period 2006-2008.
Up until now AIDS has been considered an adult’s
disease and children have been missing out – they’ve
been missing drugs, they’ve been missing their
parents, their teachers and doctors; sometimes they
miss out altogether as more and more children are
dying from AIDS related illnesses. But a new
campaign launched in October 2005, aims to give AIDS
a child’s face UNICEF and UNAIDS together launched
the five year to unite all the efforts of all those
fighting AIDS to meet children’s needs in four key
areas:
- Prevent mother to child transmission;
- Provide paediatric treatment;
- Prevent infection among adolescents and young
people;
- Protect and support children affected by AIDS.
|
