143,000,000

It's not a statistic that you hear much outside of non-profits and medical NGOs but there are 143,000,000 orphaned and abandoned children in the world today. Any discussion of AIDS cannot ignore that the largest factor in children being orphaned is HIV/AIDS.

There are many shocking statistics and the problem is much too overwhelming to be summed up with only stats. We are kind of statistically numb in America anyway. However, 143 million, to these ears, is a stat that represents an impossible challenge. One that, also from my perspective, is a crisis that can only be solved by people who will co-operate with a God who gives significance to every one of the 143,000,000.

Another set of un-ignorable stats courtesy of Angela Wakhweya, Senior Technical Officer in the Orphans and other Vulnerable Children Unit, Prevention and Mitigation Division, Family Health International...

90% of all orphans are Sub-Saharan Africa.

In America, 99% of children born to HIV mothers do not have the virus. In Africa, that number is reversed.