HIV/AIDS is having a devastating impact upon the world's children
HIV/AIDS does not only affect adults – it affects children and young people. Their lives are being devastated. Every minute of every day, a child under 15 dies because of AIDS - over half a million died in 2004**. Every 15 seconds a young person between the ages of 15 to 24 is infected with HIV, every day more than 5,000. More than 600,000 children under the age of 15 are infected with HIV each year**. 15 million children have lost their mothers and/or fathers to AIDS. Millions more children are missing out on their childhood because they cannot go to school, cannot get health care or do not get enough to eat, as a result of the disease.
*Source: 2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic (UNAIDS) HIV/AIDS is a regional problem HIV/AIDS does not just affect people in Africa. It affects people everywhere.Although numerically low in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the number of people living with HIV has risen dramatically in just a few years. More than 80% of those are people under 30. Although the true numbers are not known, UNAIDS have warned that HIV may be spreading faster in Eastern Europe and Central Asia than anywhere else in the world. The growing epidemic has been fuelled by intravenous drug use, however, sexual transmission is becoming more common. Women and girls are particularly at risk and account for an increasing share of new cases of HIV. Most cases are in Russia and Kazakhstan, but Uzbekistan is following a similar pattern.
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