HIV is the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis. In 2009, an estimated 33.3 million people globally were living with HIV, including 2.5 million children under the age of 15 (UNAIDS global factsheet 2010).
It is hard to grasp how many people this involves, but with whole communities being destroyed the situation is clearly critical. Some of the world’s most fragile economies are being broken by the spread of HIV, as it can dramatically affect people's ability to earn a living.
Extraordinary burdens are placed on extended families struggling to cope with personal loss, and the sheer scale of the illness places enormous strain on health systems.