Hot flashes Children of HIV

Researchers are looking to sociology, education and social policy to help slow the spread of AIDS among young people in southern Africa.

The children and youth of today never knew a pre-AIDS world. In 2007, UNAIDS reported that between 2.2 and 2.6 million children under 15 years old were living with HIV worldwide, with an estimated 420,000 of them having been infected within the year. While virologists strive to make the disease history for future young people, three McGill researchers are taking a hard look at today's reality by exploring the social factors contributing to the rate of HIV transmission among youth in Malawi, Rwanda and South Africa—and how to better care for those whose young lives have already been shattered by AIDS.