As a direct result of HIV and AIDS, the population of sub-Saharan Africa is now in decline. Parents are dying, leaving their children (often babies) to fend for themselves on the streets. AIDS is the leading cause of death globally in women of reproductive age as well as for infants and young children in much of sub-Saharan Africa.

The challenges facing Africa are daunting. Africa has the highest proportion of its people in extreme poverty and is not on target to meet any of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed at the United Nations in 2000. The MDGs are:

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
Globally, the number of people living in extreme poverty is falling, but there are large variations in progress between regions. Asia is making good progress, but there is little movement elsewhere and sub-Saharan Africa is going backwards.  The world already produces enough food, but the key to eradicating hunger is to ensure that ordinary people in the developing world can get access to it and that it’s affordable. Poverty is the principal cause of hunger.

Achieve universal primary education.
Number of girls out of school in Africa is the highest in the world (23m)

Promote gender equality and empower women.
Having more educated women with greater rights could make the single biggest positive difference to reducing poverty, the rate of childhood diseases and death and the spread of AIDS in developing countries.

Reduce child mortality.
Thirty years ago, one in five children in the world died before their fifth birthday. This has now been halved to less than one in ten. Better access to vaccinations and other basic health services and improved living standards have contributed to a steep decline in global deaths among infants and children over the past 30 years.

Improve maternal health.
Every year, more than half a million women die from complications in pregnancy or childbirth. Almost all of them would still be alive if they had access to a skilled midwife or doctor in childbirth and effective emergency care for women who have complications.

Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
In Africa, in 2003, some 26.6 million people were living with HIV, 3.2 million people became infected, and AIDS killed 2.3 million.

Ensure environmental sustainability.
Many of the world’s poorest people depend on natural resources for a healthy diet, clean water, shelter, energy, and medicines. What’s more, these people are often most vulnerable to disasters and hazards such as flooding, landslides and pollution brought about or exacerbated by environmental degradation.

Develop a global partnership for development.
The targets in the global partnership for development millennium development goal include a fairer trading and financial system. Getting rid of barriers to trade could lift almost 300 million people in the developing world out of poverty.

Quick Facts

• Number of children in the world:
• 2.2 billion
• Number in poverty
• 1 billion (every second child)
• Shelter, safe water and health
• For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are: 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
• 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
• 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)
• Children out of education worldwide
• 121 million
• Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
• Survival for children
• Worldwide,10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy)
• 1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation Health of children Worldwide,2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized
• 15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)
• According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.” That is about 210,000 children each week, or just under 11 million children under five years of age, each year.
• “The lives of 1.7 million children will be needlessly lost this year [2000] because world governments have failed to reduce poverty levels”