The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) recently released the AIDS Epidemic Update report, which estimates that the number of people living with HIV reached a staggering 33.4 million in 2008. Of those living with HIV, 2.1 million were children under 15. Approximately 430,000 of those children became newly infected in 2008 alone. Although this is down an estimated 18% from 2001, about 280,000 children still died in 2008 as a result of complications due to HIV/AIDS.
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) attacks the cells of the immune system. Eventually, the virus impairs or destroys the cells' function, and the immune system progressively deteriorates. As a result, the body can no longer fight off infections and disease. AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) generally refers to someone in the most advanced stages of HIV infection who's been diagnosed with 20 opportunistic infections or related cancers.
HIV/AIDS is a disease that impacts different regions of the world in different ways, with the poorest countries usually getting hit the hardest. According to the UNAIDS report, AIDS is the biggest single cause of death among children under five in the worst affected regions.
How Children Are Infected with HIV
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the majority of children living with HIV were infected through mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. However, the risk of mother-to-child infection can be reduced significantly through preventative intervention.
According to the UNAIDS report, an effective strategy is to provide antiretroviral therapy (a drug regimen that combats HIV) during pregnancy and provide replacement infant feeding after childbirth. Such an approach can reduce transmission rates from an estimated 30-35% to around 1-2%. Unfortunately, access to such intervention remains limited in many low-income and middle-income countries, although some regions have seen significant improvement in this area.
But HIV infection in children is not only a result of mother-to-child transmission. Children are also infected through contaminated blood products or syringes. And children in some regions, particularly girls, are often victims of sexual abuse, which continues to put many children at risk.
Millions of AIDS Orphans
The AIDS Epidemic Update report estimates that in 2008 about two million people died from AIDS-related illnesses. According to the WHO, AIDS is the world's leading infectious killer and has so far claimed over 27 million lives. It is not surprising, then, that many children have lost their parents and are now orphans. And, of course, a number of these children are themselves infected with HIV.
Because of the impact of HIV/AIDS, countless children have lost the affection, support, and protection of one or both parents. In addition, those who don't end up living in the streets, often become responsible for the care of their siblings and other relatives - and sometimes the sick parents themselves. Children left to run the household or who live in the streets become more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. As a result, they risk greater exposure to HIV, while lacking access to education, health care, and social support.
UNAIDS recommends that one way to mitigate the effects of HIV on orphans is to secure the training necessary to ensure future livelihoods. Efforts should be made to keep them in school and to provide them with marketable skills. But that means more than just educating the children. The root causes of child labor, poverty, and food shortages must be addressed. And above all, the children should be provided with community-based care rather than be placed in institutions such as orphanages.
R.H. Sheldon - A number of years ago, long before I moved to the Northwest, I hitchhiked with a friend across Washington state to northern Idaho. We got ...
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