UNITED NATIONS, Oct 24 (AFP) - With AIDS claiming the life of a child every minute of every day, the United Nations launched a campaign Monday to focus global attention on the "missing face" of the HIV-AIDS pandemic.
"A whole generation of young people today have never known a world free of HIV and AIDS," Ann Veneman, executive director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) told reporters at a launch briefing.
According to UNICEF, AIDS-related illnesses claim the lives of more than 1,400 children under the age of 15 every day, while more than 6,000 people aged 15 to 24 are newly infected with the HIV virus.
More than 15 million children have lost at least one parent because of AIDS -- a figure that is expected to reach 18 million by 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa alone -- and millions more have seen their communities ravaged by the disease.
"The size of the problem is staggering, but the scale of the response has been inadequate," Veneman said, citing the tiny fraction of resources dedicated to fighting AIDS that are earmarked for children.
Less than five percent of HIV-positive children have access to life-preserving pediatric drugs, and less than 10 percent of those orphaned and made vulnerable by AIDS receive outside support.
"Nearly 25 years into the pandemic, this very visible disease continues to have an invisible face," Veneman said. "It is the face of a child. It is a missing face."
Although the majority of people living with HIV are still adults, children under 15 account for one in six AIDS-related deaths and one in seven new infections.
The UNICEF campaign, to run over five years, will aim to build country-level programs aimed at preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission, providing pediatric treatment, preventing infection among adolescents and providing adequate support to children affected by AIDS.
According to UNICEF, failure to address the rising prevalence of AIDS among children will severely undermine many of the Millennium Development Goals aimed at eradicating extreme poverty by 2015.
In some of the worst-affected countries, AIDS has been a major factor behind plummeting national life expectancy rates that have dropped from the mid 50s to the mid 30s in just four years.
"In these countries, turning 18 can mean reaching middle age," Veneman said.
More than 85 percent of children under 15 living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa, with South and East Asia the other hardest-hit regions.
UNICEF also pointed to the growing prevalence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and warned of potential epidemics being overlooked in the Middle East and North Africa because of cultural inhibitions against discussing sexual and reproductive health.
In order to prevent the spread of the disease among adolescents, especially young women, Veneman said education was crucial.
"They cannot protect themselves if they do not know the facts," she said.
As part of the official campaign launch, a 30-second video will be projected onto the side of the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
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