AIDS

At the end of 2005, there were 40.3 million people infected with AIDS in the world. Although Sub-Saharan Africa only makes up 10% of the world's population, 60% of the world's people infected with AIDS live there.

Of the world's 15 million children orphaned by AIDS, 11 million live in Sub-Saharan Africa, the 48 countries south of the Sahara Desert that include Uganda.

By 2010, Sub-Saharan Africa will be home to an estimated 50 million orphaned children, with more than a third losing one or both parents to AIDS  - Children on the Brink 2004, UNICEF-USAID-UNAIDS.

Because an entire generation has been lost to AIDS, Uganda is a young population with children accounting for more than 52% of the population. Extended family members no longer have the capacity to absorb the orphaned children.

The number of children is highest in rural areas where poverity is the greatest. Conditions of poverty put children at risk for engaging in activities that expose them to the risks of HIV infection.