HIV/AIDS in Children

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS ) is a combination of symptoms and infections in humans that result from the specific damage to the immune system caused by human immunodeficiency virus (Marx , 1982 . In the late stages of this condition , individuals are prone to infections and tumors . There are treatments available to deter the disease , but there are no cures . Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV ) is transmitted by coming in contact with contaminated bodily fluid , including semen vaginal secretions , blood , and presemenal fluid . This fluid must come in contact with the mucous membranes or bloodstream

in to contract this disease (Center for Disease Control and Prevention , 2003 . AIDS /HIV is a growing pandemic worldwide , and children with this disease are growing in numbers . In to combat this head on , it is imperative to fully understand the disease , and the lack of education supplies , and treatment

It is a common conclusion among researchers that HIV originated in sub-Saharan Africa during the twentieth century (Gao et al , 1999 . This pandemic infected 38 .6 million individuals and the numbers are growing (UNAIDS , 2006 . According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV /AIDS (UNAIDS ) and the World Health Organization (WHO ) estimate that this infamous killer expired twenty-fie million people since the recognition of HIV /AIDS in 1981 . In 2005 , AIDS claimed approximately 2 .4 to 3 .3 million lives - 570 ,000 were children - one-third of these deaths occurred in the sub-Saharan Africa (UNAIDS , 2006

The symptoms of AIDS are primarily the result of conditions that do not occur in health individuals with a unaffected immune system . Bacteria viruses , fungi , and parasites that are normally controlled by the immune system that HIV /AIDS weakens can cause the infections typical of AIDS (Holmes et al , 2003 . Individuals with AIDS have an increased risk of developing certain cancers . Systemic symptoms of AIDS include fevers sweats , swollen glands , chills , general weakness , and weight loss (Guss 1994 . Survival time varies . When antiretroviral therapy is estimated to be more than five years however this can vary with the resistance to treatments , but death is almost certain at one year if no antiretroviral treatment is given (Morgan , 2002

According to USAID , HIV /AIDS is generating a serious crisis in several regions of the world , which is threatening the public health and well-being of an entire societies while killing decades of progress in the economic and social development (USAID , 2006 . The majority of those affected are children orphaned and burdened by its demoralizing toll . It is estimated that 13 .2 million children under fifteen years of age had lost their mother , or both parents , to AIDS and ninety percent of these children lie in sub-Saharan Africa (USAID , 2006

Children and young adults aged fifteen to twenty-four ears of age represent the largest and fastest growing segment of people infected with HIV /AIDS , which count for half of those newly affected every day (Save the Children , 2003 . Worldwide , nearly half of the individuals living with HIV /AIDS are under the age of...