United Nations Radio

More than two million children worldwide were living with the HIV virus in 2007, most of whom were infected before they were born.

According to the "Children and AIDS" report by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and UNAIDS, more than 290-000 children under the age of 15 died of AIDS last year and 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa lost one or both parents to the disease.

UNICEF's Executive Director Anne Veneman says "today's children and young people have never known a world free of AIDS."

And she called for children to "be at the heart of the global AIDS agenda."

The report highlights four areas crucial to tackling the epidemic: preventing HIV transmission from mothers to children; providing paediatric treatment; preventing infection among adolescents and young people; and protecting and supporting children affected by AIDS.

This is Donn Bobb reporting for United Nations Radio.

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