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Background: HIV / Aids

Breaking the vicious circle

Aids is rampant. 14 million children under 15 have already lost either their father or mother or both parents because of Aids. Most of these are in southern Africa. In Asia, however, as well as in eastern Europe the situation is becoming dramatic. Almost 600,000 infants are infected with the virus through their mothers and every day 1,400 children die of Aids. In about 20 projects across the world Kindernothilfe supports children and young people who are affected by Aids.

AidswaisenfamilieZambian girl who lost her parents due to Aids. Picture: Christoph Engel  
Facts and figures
Every six seconds a person is infected by HIV and every 10 seconds a person dies of Aids. At present there are 40 million people with HIV/Aids. Over 50 percent of these are women and half of these are between 15 and 24.
More than 95 percent of people with HIV/Aids live in threshold and developing countries. The areas most affected in the world are south of the Sahara in Africa. The most rapid growth rate of HIV is occurring in eastern Europe and central Asia. In China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam which together account for 40 percent of the world population, the rate of new infections is also rising rapidly. Only about 7 percent of those infected with HIV in threshold and developing countries get the vital antiretroviral drugs.

Poverty and Aids - a vicious circle
No money means no school education and no education means no knowledge about health dangers and prevention. That is how the vicious circle of poverty and HIV begins. Anyone becoming ill with immune deficiency cannot continue to work without undergoing expensive treatment. Children have to take over the work of ill parents and look after the whole family. That means they have to stop going to school where they would receive instructions on the dangers of HIV and how to avoid infection. Lack of knowledge leads to the situation where people who are HIV positive are ostracized from society. In many regions, the disease is seen as a punishment from God. People with Aids are discriminated against

Teo Muyinza, Oma von Akim - 4 ihrer Kinder starben an AidsTreatment is still too expensive for people in developing countries as Uganda. Picture: Pascal Rest 
Medicines are expensive
Modern medicines prolong the life of people infected. But these are far too expensive for people in developing countries. There are almost no medicines available for children which are easy to use and suited to their needs.

What action is Kindernothilfe taking?
Carrying out prevention work, giving treatment to those affected and creating future prospects for aids orphans. This is the strategy to keep the pandemic in check and to enable those infected to lead their lives in human dignity. Kindernothilfe finances projects which offer education on HIV/Aids and give support to those infected or affected by aids. This includes self-help groups in which people, whose families have been torn apart by aids, seek education, health improvements and ways of gaining a livelihood. In a pilot project in India, infected children are being given Antiretroviral Therapy (ART).Without ART these children would not live to be older than eight or ten. The therapy gives them a new lease of life. However, because there are no drugs suitable for children, projects like this can only be carried out where specialists adapt ART to suit children's needs.

As a member of the Alliance "Action aganist Aids", Kindernothilfe campaigns to get governments and the pharmaceutical industry to take the necessary measures to combat the Aids pandemic in an effective manner. To do this, more money must be invested and cheap, easy to use drugs suited for children must be developed.

Annual Report Annual Report 2009 (pdf, 2,5 MB)


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