These programs are in dire need of assistance due to the spread of disease. According to an article written for CNN by John Christensen, there have already been over 14.8 million deaths attributed to the pandemic in the sub-Saharan alone - a number that continues to increase. By Christensen's estimates, in the year 1999 over 24.5 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Of those 24.5 million, Christensen reported that in the year 1999 alone, 2.2 million died of the disease, while 3.8 million became infected. .
The future remains bleak for the people of sub-Saharan Africa. In one study done by B.J. Brown and L. Zhang, both of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Singapore, the region will continue to lead in the spread with a "projected 58 million cases by 2010-. Additionally by their estimates, Nigeria and Ethiopia, two of the world's most populous nations (and sub-Saharan states), will lead the world in numbers of new cases by 2010. Between the years of 2005 and 2010, it is projected that the rate of life expectancy in the region will drop from 59 years to only 45 years. Zimbabwe, one of the regions projected to be most affected in the future; the average life expectancy is expected to drop from 61 to 33 (Christensen, CNN). .
Children and young people are especially affected by the AIDS pandemic. According to the UNAIDS Fact Sheet on the Impact of HIV/AIDS, the under-five mortality rate in seven of "hardest-hit- sub-Saharan countries has increased up to 40%. In fact, in 1999 alone there were over 500,000-recorded cases of babies infected by their mothers in the sub-Saharan region. In addition to those children infected with the virus, over 12.1 million have become orphans from the pandemic (Christensen, CNN). UNAIDS estimates, by the year 2010, there will be an estimated 20 million children who have lost at least one parent to HIV/AIDS. .
With many citizens dying in there "productive years- and children orphaned by the dead, sub-Saharan Africa has fallen into economic despair.
