 | According to UN Data, out of the approximately 40 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, 11.8 million are between 15 and 24 years old. |
An estimated 6000 youth a day become infected with HIV/AIDS – one every 14 seconds. There are now 14 Million AIDS orphans worldwide, the majority of them in Sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 860,000 children in Sub-Saharan Africa lost their teachers to AIDS in 1999. Unprotected sex is the primary way of transmission among young people. Survey data from several Sub-Saharan African countries report that the proportions of unmarried, sexually active women aged 15–19 who reported the use of condoms in their most recent sexual encounter ranged from two to 18 percent. 40 percent among young men from Peru who identified themselves as homosexual reported having recently engaged in unprotected intercourse. Women are more susceptible to be infected than men. While biological factors play a role, socio-economic circumstances may be equally endangering. Girls and young women are often married at early age to older men that have had a number of sexual partners before. Other women are forced into commercial sexual activities or are pressured to trade economic security for sexual activity and far to often young women are the victims of rape and sexual abuse. The spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic has devastating effects on the most affected economies, above all in Sub-Saharan Africa. When the prevalence of HIV/AIDS reaches 8 percent – about where it is for more than a dozen African countries today – the cost in growth is estimated at about 1 percent a year. As the pandemic hits the economically active bracket of society, AIDS orphans are often deprived of schooling and other opportunities of learning and advancement as well as livelihood opportunities. Despite concerted efforts by governments, donor agencies and NGO’s, lack of (correct) information about the ways of transmission is still prevalent in many developing countries, which often translates in an inability to calculate the risks of sexual activities. The World Bank has established a partnership with the Global Fund, UNICEF, and the Clinton Foundation to help developing countries buy high-quality AIDS medicines at low prices. Encouragingly so, an increasing number of countries have successfully reversed high rates of HIV infection in young people. In Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia, HIV prevalence among young people has recently declined by half or more, primarily because of changes in behavior such as delay in first sexual experience and increased condom use. Jamaica and Brazil, countries with programs promoting information about and widespread availability of condoms, report recent large increases in the percentage of young men using condoms the first time they have sex. The World Bank is deeply committed to pursue the Millennium Development Goal of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015. At the 2001 UN Special Session on HIV/AIDS, the target was set to reduce the HIV prevalence among 15-24 year-olds by 25 percent in the most affected countries by 2005 and globally by 2010. A number of projects have had a children and youth focus or aspect.  For more on the Bank's work on HIV/AIDs, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/aids.
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