Aids Information

Worldwide 34,000,000 people live with HIV and each year 1,800,000 people die from AIDS. Globally 14,600,000 people need treatment but do not have access. This is where Roses and Rosemary steps in.

AIDS is Southern Africa’s single biggest killer and children orphaned by this pandemic are at extreme risk. There is a huge unmet need for medication to support those with HIV.

Source: Globalhealthfacts.org  http://www.globalhealthfacts.org/index.jsp

Definitions: HIV: Human immunodeficiency virus, the virus that causes AIDS. HIV can be transmitted through infected blood, semen, vaginal secretions, breast milk, and during pregnancy or delivery. HIV destroys certain white blood cells called CD4+ T cells. These cells are critical to the normal function of the human immune system, which defends the body against illness. When HIV weakens the immune system, a person is more susceptible to developing a variety of cancers and becoming infected with viruses, bacteria and parasites. The disease has four stages: primary or acute HIV infection, asymptomatic, symptomatic, and advanced HIV disease (AIDS).

AIDS: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. A disease of the body's immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A person who tests positive for HIV is considered to have progressed to AIDS when a laboratory test shows that his or her immune system is severely weakened by the virus or when he or she develops at least one of about 25 different opportunistic infections -- diseases that might not affect a person with a normal immune system but that take advantage of damaged immune systems. People who have not had one of these opportunistic infections, but whose immune system is severely damaged, are also considered to have progressed to an AIDS diagnosis. History of the Disease: http://aids.about.com/od/newlydiagnosed/a/hivtimeline.htm