Lesotho is a country surrounded by South Africa where the HIV rate is somewhere around 24% (in 2009 according to UNICEF & AVERT). 1 in 4 people has HIV and many of those cases have developed into AIDS.
The following is a very short video showing how much of an impact medication has made for people with AIDS in Lesotho - and it only costs 40 cents/day.
In South Africa, there are 1,900,000 orphans due to AIDS and 330,000 children living with HIV/AIDS. Just as a frame of reference: the city where I currently live is somewhere around 224,000 people. That means that this city + 100,000 more kids would equal the HIV/AIDS infection rate for one country.... just their rate of infection of kids. Not adults.
Just the kids. Children who never had a choice. That's a third of the population of this entire province made up of kids with HIV/AIDS. And that is only one country in Africa....
I'm not sure if it's my brain or my heart that has the most trouble reconciling this.
I.B.
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