One of the harshest effects of the global AIDS

One of the harshest effects of the global AIDS epidemic is the number of orphans it has created, and continues to create. By the end of 2005, it is estimated that more than 15 million children had lost one or more of their parents as a result of AIDS. Some AIDS orphans are adopted by grandparents or other extended family-members, but many are left without any support. Child-headed households as a result of AIDS are common in some areas, with older children fending for their siblings and themselves. See our AIDS orphans page to learn more.

At the end of 2007, there were 2.5 million children living with HIV around the world.

420,000 children became newly infected with HIV in 2007.

Around 90% of all children living with HIV acquired the infection from their mothers during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding.

Of the 2.1 million people who died of AIDS during 2007, more than one in seven was children. Every hour, around forty children die as a result of AIDS.

Despite the severity of this situation, many people still think of AIDS as something that affects adults. Some people occasionally think of ‘AIDS babies’ and children who have lost one or both of their parents to AIDS – AIDS orphans – are sometimes in the media. But since HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is commonly transmitted through sex or drug use, people don’t really think of it affecting children. It does, though – and millions of children around the world continue to have their lives damaged by HIV.