More than a million children are living with HIV/AIDS
As people around the globe hold events to mark World Aids Day, President Bill Clinton has warned that the disease has reached catastrophic proportions in many parts of the world.
He said the spread of Aids was so severe in some regions, it had become a menace to international security and said the United States was committed to finding a cure.
Despite two decades of research there is still no known cure for the disease, and more than 20 million people have already died because of it.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: “There is no more important issue for us to consider than Aids.”
For more information and to view the BBC ‘AIDS Around the World’ pages go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/newsid_1049000/1049247.stm