When I was a lot younger all the talk was of AIDS, and nowadays you hardly hear it mentioned. Is that because it is now all under control? Well maybe in the West but most children living with HIV *the figures are about 9 out of 10 live in Sub-Saharan Africa, the region of the world where AIDS has taken its greatest toll. Large numbers of children with HIV also live in the Caribbean, Latin America and South/South East Asia.4 Around 90% of all children living with HIV acquired the infection from their mothers during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding.5

Many countries that had previously seen child survival rates rise, as a result of improved healthcare, are now seeing these rates fall again. It has been estimated that without AIDS, Botswana’s under-5 mortality rate would have been 31 per 100,000 in 2002 compared to 107 with AIDS. By 2010, the country’s under-5 child mortality is expected to have increased by 100 deaths per 100,000 as a result of AIDS. Most regions of the world, including African regions, have seen a decline in child mortality but in Southern Africa, the area most affected by HIV, under-5 mortality has increased.6

In Africa, studies suggest that one in three newborn children infected with HIV die before the age of one, over half die before reaching their second birthday, and most are dead before they are five years old.7 Conversely, in developed countries, preventive measures ensure that the transmission of HIV from mother to child is relatively rare, and in those cases where it does occur, a range of treatment options means that the child can survive – often into adulthood. This shows that with funding, trained staff and resources, the infections and deaths of many children might easily be avoided.

I find these statistics quite shocking and terribly sad.