by Nigel Marsh - Hope Communications

BARCELONA, July 9, 2002 - The problems of orphans and vulnerable children in the discussion on the impact of AIDS is a gap in the focus of the Barcelona AIDS2002 UN Conference on HIV/AIDS, says World Vision team leader Ken Casey.

"Every set of statistics you see here, every report that is being released, shows the devastation that is being caused among young people in the developing nations of the world," said Casey today. "Yet even the hardest-hitting of speeches and presentations we are hearing and seeing pays only the barest attention to how we might deal with 40 million more orphans and a hundred million other vulnerable children in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America."

Prevention of HIV transmission has become a huge issue at this year's conference, following controversy in previous years about whether it should be put at the same level of importance as treatment of the sick. But care for the dependants and young survivors of those with AIDS is still relatively little discussed.

"The thing that's perhaps most scary is that 67% of the youth being affected are girls," says Casey. "Out of the 14,000 people infected with HIV today, 6,000 are in sub-Saharan Africa, and two thirds of those are girls. It's still the only continent in the world where girls and young women are being infected more commonly than boys and young men, and that is an agenda we need to continue to address."

The emphasis of the Hope strategy on children and young people, on care, and on advocacy, is a perfect fit with this vital but neglected agenda, says Casey. "In many ways, with our peers, with scientists, with the UN and with the media, it's good that we are here at Barcelona to be a part of giving a voice to a huge and important population who can easily be neglected."

World Vision representatives at the conference have had the opportunity to address the issue with media representatives as diverse as the Wall Street Journal and Trans World Radio, and to bring it up in a variety of panels, poster presentations and informal meetings with others.