unless something changes, over 250 million people will die from aids in the next few years
TRANSCRIPT
Unless something changes, over 250 million people will die from AIDS in the next few years
Narrow graves are predug and waiting for the dead in Zimbabwe
We are still in the earliest stages of the epidemic.
The spread of HIV across the globe is now twice as fast as
five years ago
85 million people were infected with HIV by the end of 2002
In many towns and cities across central Africa, up to a third of all young adults
are infected with HIV
AIDS is not a gay plague. There are millions more
women and children infected with HIV throughout the world
than gay men.
In Romania up to 1 in 10 of all children in
orphanages became infected with infected
needles.
In South East Asia, HIV is spreading so fast that it threatens to dwarf
the African problem by 2010.
By 2001, India had more HIV cases than any other nation. In Bombay alone, there are an estimated 1000 new cases every
night.
In Indonesia, infection rates have jumped in a year from
15% to 40% among drug users.
Antiretroviral drugs can prolong life expectancy but are hugely
expensive and often unavailable to developing countries. In the
West, complacency about HIV is increasing as people mistakenly believe these drugs are a cure.
Already we are seeing new strains of the virus which are
resistant to treatment.
Worldwide, over 3 million children have HIV infection . Half a million die every year.
Babies of infected mothers are at greatest risk of catching the HIV
virus from the birth process itself and from
breastfeeding.
In developed countries, 50% of people who contract HIV will
develop AIDS within 10 years. 94% of those with AIDS will die
within 5 years.
What can we do ?
Unless something changes, over 250 million people will die from AIDS
in the next few years