McAleese addresses UNICEF meeting on AIDS crisis

President Mary McAleese has warned that HIV and AIDS are eroding the progress made by developing countries throughout the world in recent years.

Speaking at a UNICEF meeting in Dublin today, Mrs McAleese said the disease was orphaning so many children that it was threatening the future existence of sub-Saharan Africa.

An estimated 14 million children worldwide have lost their parents to AIDS and this number is expected to reach 25 million by 2010.

Speaking at this morning’s meeting, UNICEF’s Carol Bellamy also said that girls and women were now being infected at twice the rate of men and boys in Africa, Asia and Latin America.