Welcome to the official web site of Life ( LOVE, INDEPENDENCE, FREEDOM, EQUALITY ) for Africa in Australia – where we are committed to supporting & making a difference in the lives of babies and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Facts in brief about HIV/Aids

By the end of 2005, 40.3 million people were living with HIV/AIDS, including 17.5 million women and 2.3 million children under the age of 15.4.9 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2005, including 700,000 children. Of these, 3.2 million new infections occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2005 alone, a total of 3.1 million people died of HIV/AIDS-related causes. World-wide, only one in ten persons infected with HIV has been tested and knows his/her HIV status. Ninety-six percent of people with HIV live in the developing world, most in sub-Saharan Africa.

South Africa has the fifth highest prevalence of HIV in the world, with 21.5% of the population estimated to be infected. Given the numbers of people infected and dying, South Africa is regarded as having the most severe HIV epidemic in the world. Efforts to stem the tide of new infections have only had limited success, as behaviour change and social change are long-term processes, and the factors that predispose people to infection – such as poverty, illiteracy, and gender inequalities – cannot be addressed in the short term. In 2004, it was estimated that there are 2.2 million orphaned children in the country (meaning 13% of all children have lost either a mother or father); nearly half of all orphans were estimated to have lost parents to AIDS-related illnesses. The worst affected children – those in deeply impoverished households – are losing their health (through infection, inadequate nutrition, and poor health care

In some African countries, three quarters of those infected are women - many of whom have not had more than one sexual partner. An estimated 5 to 6 million people in low- and middle-income countries will die in the next two years if they do not receive antiretroviral treatment (ART). At the end of 2005, only one in seven Asians and one in ten Africans who need ART were receiving it.

In six African countries, (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe), more than one in five of all pregnant women have HIV/AIDS. In Swaziland, nearly 40% of pregnant women are HIV-positive.

Without prevention efforts, 35% of children born to an HIV positive mother will become infected with HIV. At least a quarter of newborns infected with HIV die before age one, and up to 60% will die before reaching their second birthdays.

I would like to thank the following organisations for sharing their data, HRW Org, The World Bank, UNAIDS, WHO, CIA World FactBook, UAAID & Curtin University.