text: tAJBS-affectftt pfwms — and the tmtttfirtffgftifratwtt af orphans whose parents have riicti of A IDS — place (tfMitwnaJ strains on all at health and wcial ncrvirfs.information on the knowledge, atti- tudes and practices of mothers and health workers (Bolivia, Lesotho, Thailand, Turkey, Zimbabwe); and organization of treatment surveys both within and outside health fa- cilities (Viet Nam, Zimbabwe). AIDS The international conference. The Im- plications of AIDS on Mothers and Children, held in Paris in November 1989 and co-sponsored by UNICEF, has heightened global awareness of the magnitude and consequences of pacdiatric AIDS, as well as a commit- ment to addressing related problems. AIDS is casting a dark shadow across child health programmes in many parts of the world. HIV will result in severe and largely untreatable illness in hundreds of thousands of children during the 1990s, and experts prtdict that in areas with high rates of HIVinfection among pregnant women, child survival gains made since the 1960s will be eliminated and even reversed. Almost all infants born with HIV infection die within five years—a fact which will impact heavily on U5MR. WHO has estimated that during the 1990s the number of persons Hiv- infected globally will be three times greater than in the 1980s, and that the number of adults developing Ains- related illnesses over the same period will be about nine times greater. Hiv-rclated deaths in infants and children are directly related to the numbers of pregnant women who are infected, and these numbers are grow- ing rapidly in Africa and parts of the Caribbean. In Africa, an estimated one million women of reproductive age are already infected, and over one in four women are already infected in some high-risk groups and urban areas. In the Caribbean, women have be- come increasingly vulnerable as het- erosexual transmission increases. In
analysis: The text discusses the impact of AIDS on mothers and children, highlighting the growing number of HIV-infected pregnant women and the severe consequences for child health and survival. It also mentions the implications for child health programs and the need for international awareness and commitment to addressing the issue. These themes suggest that the category should be related to health and humanitarian aid.