The Stunning Impact of AIDS

06/07/2002

"Children laugh with each other in a way that we have forgotten." —Gigi Schweikert from her book, Teacher Tips

THE STUNNING IMPACT OF AIDS

In conducting research for an article on international early childhood trends for the July issue of Child Care Information Exchange, I ran across some frightening statistics about the impact AIDS is having on certain nations. The chart below, excerpted from "The World Population Profile 1998" published by the US Bureau of the Census, demonstrates what life expectancy is in a number of nations suffering from a severe AIDS epidemic and what life expectancy would be in that nation if AIDS were not a factor:

Life Expectancy in 1998

Country	With AIDS	Without AIDS
Botswana	40.1	61.5
Congo	49.3	54.4
Ethiopia	40.9	30.9
Kenya	47.6	65.6
Namibia	41.5	65.3
South Africa	55.7	65.4
Tanzania	46.4	55.2
Brazil	64.4	71.3
Haiti	51.4	55.5

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