The deaths and illness of millions of adults due to AIDS is wreaking havoc on the lives of children. A growing number of children themselves are dying of AIDS.

AIDS is now the single largest killer of people ages 15-49 worldwide. In 2003, 2.9 million people died of AIDS, including almost half a million children under age 15. About 4.8 million people became infected with HIV, including 630,000 children.

By 2003, some 2.1 million children under age 15 were living with HIV/AIDS, most of them infected during pregnancy, birth or through breastfeeding. Botsw ana, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, which have among the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world, registered the second-, third- and fourth-largest swells in child death rates from 1990 to 2002. Globally, around four per cent of deaths among children are due to AIDS.

The epidemic's impact on children is seen most dramatically in the wave of orphaning caused by AIDS. In just two years (2001 – 2003), the number of children who had lost one or both parents due to AIDS rose from 11.5 million to 15 million, around 80 per cent of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa .

Around 90 per cent are living with extended families, many of whom are already severely stretched. Millions more children are living with sick and dying family members.

The illness or death of a mother or caregiver during a child's most vulnerable early years jeopardizes the fulfilment of that child's most basic needs. The epidemic deprives children of their families, their first and best line of defence against harm and injury.

Children whose parents have died are less likely to be in school, less likely to be at the proper educational level, and more likely to drop out. Orphaned children are also much more likely than non-orphaned children to be subjected to the worst forms of child labour: in commercial agriculture, domestic service, commercial sex work, and as street vendors. Alm ost half of child commercial sex workers surveyed in Zambia said both their parents were dead; around a quarter more had lost one parent.

Particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV/AIDS is crippling communities as their key human resources - farmers, teachers, health workers, police and military personnel – fall sick and die. The impact on teachers and educations systems alone means less schooling for children.