"Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise."
In 1988, the UN General Assembly expressed deep concern at the pandemic proportions of the AIDS virus, and noting that the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared 1 December 1988 World AIDS Day, the General Assembly thus drafted resolution 43/15.
More than 41 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, some 2.3 million are children, 90% of which have contracted HIV from their mothers in the womb, at birth, or while breast-feeding. However there are cheap simple and effective medicines available, that can significantly mother to infant transmission of HIV. Sadly the urgent and lifesaving care that is needed does not reaching most of the mothers and children in developing countries. It is estimated that less than 10% of pregnant mothers have access to medical services, which could help prevent the transmission of HIV.
Unfortunately children suffer from HIV/AIDS in disproportion, as they are not only unwittingly infected, they are also loosing their parents in disproportion in many parts of the developing world. According to UNICEF 14 million children under the age of 15 have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and by 2010, this number is expected to exceed 25 million. To combat HIV/AIDS is one of the Millennium Development Goals, which all 191 United Nations Member States have pledged to meet by the year 2015. The World AIDS Campaign (WAC) has chosen as its theme from 2005 to 2010: "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise."
With 2.3 million HIV-positive children living around the world, we cannot turn our heads. This is a fight we can win and we must work to ensure all of our children have a chance at life. One way you can help is to tell Congress to commit to protecting children from HIV/AIDS.
Links:
AVERT
Children's AIDS Fund
Children with Aids Project
I Stand with Magic
World Aids Day UK
World Vision
SOS Children
Children with Aids Charity
UNICEF
UN AIDS
The Official Unite Against Aids Concert on World Aids Day
The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA)
The World AIDS Campaign
ABC of HIV -PSA on HIV prevention
AIDSPortal events page World AIDS Day and other AIDS related events
Engenderhealth and World AIDS Day
AIDS.gov – The U.S. Federal Domestic HIV/AIDS Resource
HIVtest.org – Find an HIV testing site near you
AIDS and HIV Charities and Support Directory
