HIV

Estimated HIV prevalence among young adults, from UNIAIDS report 2008

• 40 million with HIV, 1-2 million are children
• In certain parts of Africa 30 % of the population is infected.
• The risk that a child born by a HIV positive mother will inherit the virus is 1/3 in developing countries, twice as high as in industrialised countries.
• Approximately 80 % of children acquiring HIV from their mothers (vertical transmission) will die within 5 years.
• There is an assosiation between poor vitamin A status and the risk of vertical transmission.