17.04.2007 - Unite for Children Unite against AIDS!
Unite for Children Unite against AIDS
The world must take urgent account of the specific impact of AIDS on children, or there will be no chance of meeting Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6 – to halt and begin to reverse the spread of the disease by 2015. Failure to meet the goal on HIV/AIDS will adversely affect the world’s chances of progress on the other MDGs. The disease continues to frustrate efforts to reduce extreme poverty and hunger, to provide universal primary education, and to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health.
World leaders, from both industrialized and developing countries, have repeatedly made commitments to step up their efforts to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS. They are beginning to increase the political leadership and the resources needed to fight the disease. Significant progress is being made in charting the past and future course of the pandemic, in providing free antiretroviral treatment to those who need it, and in expanding the coverage of prevention services.
But children are still missing out.
Every day,
there are nearly 1,800 new HIV infections in children under 15, mostly from mother-to-child transmission; 1,400 children under 15 die of AIDS-related illness;
More than 6,000 young people aged 15–24 are newly infected with HIV;
After more than 20 years,
less than 10 per cent of pregnant women are being offered services to prevent transmission of HIV to their infants;
less than 10 per cent of the children who have been orphaned or made vulnerable by AIDS receive public support or services;
less than one third of young women aged 15–24 in sub-Saharan Africa fully understand how to avoid the disease.
Deaths due to AIDS
Every minute of every day, a child under the age of 15 dies of AIDS-related illness.AIDS claimed three million lives in 2004.
One of every six of them was a child under the age of 15.In 2004, 510,000 children under 15 years old died because of AIDS.
HIV infection among children and young peopleEach year, 640,000 children under 15 are infected with HIV.
Without treatment, half of them will die before their second birthday.
Nearly 90 percent of new child HIV infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa, but the number of such infections is increasing in other areas, particularly Asia.
Every 15 seconds, a young person between the ages of 15 and 24 is infected with HIV.
In 2004, more than 2 million young people aged 15 to 24 were newly infected with HIV.
Please join the hundreds of thousands of caring people who choose to UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS. Together, we can make a real difference!
By becoming a monthly donor to this five-year campaign, or by making a financial contribution whenever you are able, you will help UNICEF to help the millions of children who are missing their childhoods because of HIV/AIDS.
Sign up for our E-newsletter
There are many things missing from the lives of children affected by HIV/AIDS. This email, and more importantly your registration, will try to help fill in those missing pieces. By signing up for our free newsletter, you will receive campaign updates and hear about events and actions taking place around the world.
Help spread the word! Do you send email, post on message boards or have your own blog or website? If so, then you can help build this campaign online.
Browse a wide selection of free campaign banners. All we ask is that you provide a link back to the UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS website. That's http://www.unicef.org/uniteforchildren/
Finally, support the many organizations throughout the world that are working on the ground to operate programmes supporting children and families affected by HIV/AIDS.
(source: www.unitiperibambini.it - www.unicef.it)
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