Africa: Eleven Million Orphaned By HIV/AIDS

More than 11 million children under 15 years of age have been orphaned as a result of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, with that figure expected to rise to 20 million by 2010, according to a report by UNICEF Ireland. In late 2003, an estimated 26.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were living with HIV/AIDS. Of those, 10 million were young people (aged 15-24) and more than 2 3 million were children under 15. In 2003 alone, about 2,3 million adults died of AIDS in the region - that's the equivalent to over 5,000 people dying every day. Among the most devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa is that it is orphaning generations of children - jeopardising their rights and well being, as well as compromising the overall development prospects of their countries.