UNICEF Plans To Launch $1 Billion Fundraising Campaign To Help AIDS Orphans
UNICEF next year plans to launch a fundraising campaign aimed at raising $1 billion over six years to help AIDS orphans, Peter McDermott, HIV/AIDS adviser for UNICEF, said Wednesday, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. "Our target is to reach 10 million orphans and assist them to get access to schools, have food and meet other needs," McDermott -- who is attending a three-day conference on AIDS orphans in Cape Town, South Africa -- said. Representatives from UNAIDS and the United Nations World Food Programme and officials from 17 African countries also are attending the conference, according to AFP/Yahoo! News. McDermott said UNICEF has been meeting with donors and hopes to launch the fundraising campaign in 2005 to curb the projected increase in the number of AIDS orphans through 2010, according to AFP/Yahoo! News (AFP/Yahoo! News, 9/22). The total number of children throughout the world who have lost one or both parents to AIDS-related causes has reached 15 million, and the number of AIDS orphans in sub-Saharan Africa increased to about 12 million in 2003, according to a joint report by UNAIDS, UNICEF and USAID released on July 13 at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. The report, titled "Children on the Brink 2004," shows that the number of orphans worldwide is expected to reach 18.4 million by 2010 (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/14).
This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.