Total number of people living with HIV/Aids in 2002: 42 mil­lion, of which 5 mil­lion are chil­dren (UNAIDS 2002).

Number of new cases of HIV/Aids in 2002: 5 mil­lion, includ­ing 800,000 chil­dren (www.​avert.​org/​w​o​r​l​d​s​t​a​t​s.htm).

Number of HIV/Aids deaths in 2002: 3.1 mil­lion, includ­ing 610,000 chil­dren (www.​avert.​org/​w​o​r​l​d​s​t​a​t​s.htm).

Total number of chil­dren (under 15) orphaned by HIV/Aids, as of end of 2001: 14 mil­lion (www.​avert.​org/​w​o​r​l​d​s​t​a​t​s.htm).

Number of people in Sub-​Saharan Africa living with HIV/Aids in 2002: 29.4 mil­lion, equiv­a­lent to 8.8% of the total pop­u­la­tion (www.​avert.​org/​w​o​r​l​d​s​t​a​t​s.htm).

Number of people in west­ern Europe living with HIV/Aids in 2002: 570,000, equiv­a­lent to 0.3% of the total popla­tion (www.​avert.​org/​w​o​r​l​d​s​t​a​t​s.htm).

Number of people in the devel­op­ing world who cur­rently have access to anti-​retroviral drugs, which can alle­vi­ate the symp­toms of HIV/Aids for sev­eral years: 280,000 (New York Times, Nov 21 2003)

Aver­age life expectancy of males in Swazi­land, Africa: 27 (www.​sida.se)

Cost of year long anti-​retroviral treat­ment when sup­plied by west­ern phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­nies: $15,000 (San Fran­cisco Chron­i­cle, 20 Nov 2003)

Cost of year-​long anti-​retroviral treat­ment when sup­plied by generic, patent-​free man­u­fac­tur­ers: $150 (San Fran­cisco Chron­i­cle, 20 Nov 2003)