World AIDS Day

Today is World Aids Day, a moment to reflect on this deadly, and growing, world-wide epidemic.

According to an article published just moments ago, UNICEF estimates that 48,000 children in Guatemala have lost one or both of their parents to AIDS.

Marco Tulio Sosa, Minister of Public Health, announced that in next year's budget there will be a 100% increase, to $2.6 million, of the funds allocated to combat and prevent the disease. He admitted, though, that "given Guatemala's epidemiological characteristics, AIDS isn't a priority."

1% of the Guatemalan population is estimated to be HIV positive, although the infection rates are much higher in the cities and high-traffic areas (such as the border regions.)

48.000 niños huérfanos por SIDA en Guatemala, Univision

Here's an interesting article from about the impact of AIDS on the rest of the world:

Global battle against Aids

The Aids epidemic is still outstripping global efforts to contain it despite some progress, according to the UN.

We take a look, on World Aids Day, at the current stage of the devastating epidemic around the world:

There are now 40.3 million children and adults living with HIV and 3.1 million have died of Aids this year. At least 570,000 of them were children.

Yet at present only one in five people has access to basic prevention services worldwide, and only one in 10 living with HIV have been tested and know they are infected.

Both Unicef and the World Health Organization are marking today's World Aids Day by calling for better access to drugs for pregnant women.

The global picture

* Sub-Saharan Africa remains hardest hit. The region has just over 10 percent of the world's population, but more than 60 percent of its people have HIV.

* An estimated 2.4million people died of HIV-related illnesses in 2005 in Sub-Saharan Africa, while a further 3.2 million became infected with HIV.

* South Africa's epidemic, one of the largest in the world, shows no sign of relenting.

* In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the number of people living with HIV increased by one quarter to 1.6 million since 2003. The number of aids deaths almost doubled to 62,000 in the same period.

* By the end of 2004, about 300,000 HIV cases had been officially registered in the Russian Federation since the beginning of records but the actual number is much higher. An estimated 860,000 people were living with HIV in the Russian Federation at the end of 2003.

* In Asia, national HIV infection levels are low compared with Africa. Latest estimates show some 8.3 million people were living with HIV in 2005, including the 1.1million who were newly infected. Aids claimed some 520,000 lives in 2005.

* The number of people living with HIV in Latin America has risen to an estimated 1.8 million. In 2005, some 66,000 people died of Aids, and 200,000 were newly infected.

* The number of people living with HIV in North America, Western and Central Europe rose to 1.9 million in 2005, with about 65,000 newly infected in 2005. Wide availability of antiretroviral therapy has helped keep Aids deaths comparatively low, at about 30,000.

Aids has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized in 1981, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history.

Global battle against Aids, The Daily Mail (UK)

Tags: Guatemala, World, AIDS, Day, UNICEF