Every fifteen seconds, a child loses one parent to AIDS. Today there are more than fifteen million AIDS orphans in the world.

This coming Sunday, the 7th of May, will be World AIDS Orphans Day. From now until Sunday, HIV/AIDS and the children will be what I'm thinking and writing about.

To begin ...
some raw numbers, very raw ...

AIDS orphans by country -- Only the top thirty-five, as the list is much longer than Africa:

1 Nigeria 1,800,000
2 South Africa 1,100,000
3 Tanzania (United Rep. of) 980,000
3 Zimbabwe 980,000
4 Uganda 940,000
5 Congo (Dem. Republic of) 770,000
6 Ethiopia 720,000
7 Kenya 650,000
8 Zambia 630,000
9 Malawi 500,000
10 Mozambique 470,000
11 Cote d'Ivoire 310,000
12 Burkina Faso 260,000
13 Cameroon 240,000
14 Burundi 200,000
15 Ghana 170,000
16 Rwanda 160,000
17 Botswana 120,000
18 Angola 110,000
18 Central African Republic 110,000
19 Lesotho 100,000
20 Congo 97,000
21 Chad 96,000
22 Mali 75,000
23 Swaziland 65,000
24 Namibia 57,000
25 Togo 54,000
26 Eritrea 39,000
27 Liberia 36,000
28 Guinea 35,000
29 Benin 34,000
30 Madagascar 30,000
31 Niger 24,000
32 Senegal 17,000
33 Gabon 14,000
34 Djibouti 5,000
35 Gambia 2,000

Starting in 2002, May 7 has been a day to underline the needs of the world's children orphaned and affected by the virus ... a day of coordinated events around the globe to coincide in hopes of creating the greatest impact for the positive and to mobilize efforts in support of the children.

More than 30 cities in the United States will commemorate the day. The occasion will also be observed in such Latin American nations as Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay.

Advocates say the need for establishing a special commemorative day for these orphans is apparent because AIDS is likely to rob as many as 20 million children worldwide of their parents by the year 2010.  The World Bank says that because of the long incubation period of the disease (8 to 10 years), the high cost of HIV/AIDS to children, households and communities will linger for decades after the epidemic begins to wane.

When it begins to wane.

More tomorrow ...