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HIV/AIDS

Ninety-five percent of the approximately 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS are in developing countries.

UNAIDS notes that in sub-Saharan Africa, approximately 26.6 million people are living with HIV and AIDS, including several million children under the age of 15. In Asia and the Pacific, 7.4 million people have become infected, with Asia expected to surpass Africa in terms of total number of infections by 2010. More than 2 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean are also infected.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has created crises in all aspects of society, devastating local economies and severely straining communities' abilities to care for adults and children. Women and children are especially vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Each day more than 1,600 children are infected with HIV, with transmission from mother to child accounting for more than 90 percent of the infections among children under the age of 15.

By the end of 2001, some 14 million children in Africa, Asia, and Latin America had lost one or both parents to AIDS (UNICEF). These children often have to drop out of school to earn money to take care of younger siblings and to pay for food, housing and clothing. Many are forced onto the streets, where they are vulnerable to physical and sexual exploitation.

The magnitude of HIV/AIDS infection rates in the developing world makes it imperative that healthcare workers in these areas have access to clear, comprehensive and culturally appropriate prevention and treatment information.

Hesperian incorporates HIV/AIDS information throughout many of our books. In addition to HIV, health, and your community, we include HIV/AIDS information in A book for midwives (as well as our other women's health manuals), Where there is no dentist, Helping children at risk for emotional and behavioral problems, and A factory worker's guide to organizing for safe jobs and healthy communities.

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