Can you imagine a village having funerals everyday because of AIDS? How much sorrow, sadness, and stigma could it lead to?
Since AIDS was identified in the early 1980s, the disease has no longer affected only an exclusive group of people. In high-prevalence countries, it affects entire communities. According to UNAIDS statistics issued in June 2011, an estimated 34 million people were living with HIV by the end of 2010. The good news is the epidemic is slowly retreating as new HIV infections have fallen by nearly 25% in the last 10 years, and AIDS-related deaths are down by nearly 20% in the last five years. However, one child becomes infected with HIV every 90 seconds and nearly 800 children still die daily from AIDS.
Working adults are among those worst affected. When parents are seriously ill or die because of AIDS, children are forced to shoulder the burden of supporting their families and face numerous challenges.
Women account for more than 50 percent of adults living with HIV. Without treatment, HIV-positive mothers have a 1 in 3 chance of infecting their children. Most children living with HIV acquired the virus during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding.
Since its launch in 2001, World Vision's Hope Initiative has continued to implement HIV and AIDS prevention, care and advocacy programs in more than 60 countries. The interventions include helping HIV-positive women to avoid the tragedy of passing on the disease to their children. World Vision also looks after orphans and vulnerable children by providing nutritious food, basic health care, educational assistance, and vocational training.