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    In Kuanda village in northern Malawi, Maritas Shaba has her work cut out for her. At 65 years of age, she is the sole guardian of nine grandchildren whose parents died of AIDS.Like many in sub-Saharan Africa, Maritas and her grandchildren face an uncertain future. Malawi has one of the highest poverty rates in the world, exacerbated in recent years by a drought. The country also has one of the highest HIV infection rates in Africa. More than a million of Malawi’s 10 million people are HIV-positive with 25 percent of the urban workforce expected to die of AIDS by 2010. According to the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the virus has caused life expectancy in Malawi to drop from 47 years for a baby born in the mid-1980s to 36 for a baby born today. Breaking the silence that surrounds HIV/AIDS is considered key to effective education, prevention and care of those infected with the virus. There is a desperate need for a dramatic increase in spending. UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot says $3 billion is needed for basic HIV care and prevention in sub-Saharan Africa — a figure that, incredibly, is 10 times what is actually being spent today. The United Nations will hold a Special Session in June 2001 to galvanize political leadership and mobilize resources to deal with the AIDS epidemic. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says, "We must make people everywhere understand that the AIDS crisis is not over; that this is not about a few foreign countries, far away. This is a threat to an entire generation; this is a threat to an entire civilization." FIND OUT MORE about how the UN works to stop the spread of AIDS. Click on the links next to Marita's picture. ADDITIONAL HIV/AIDS STORIES: Who will care for Nakyeyune? Paul saves lives | Voices from the frontlines of the battle against AIDS Photo credit: UNICEF |
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