People infected with HIV/AIDS are sometimes too ill to work and depend on others to take care of them. (Although medicine exists to help ill people lead healthier lives, for many poor people this medicine is too expensive.)

In Africa, where many people are infected with HIV/AIDS, children must take care of the parents as well as their younger siblings. These children can't go to school, but must stay home to do chores, or find jobs to earn money.

There are also many orphaned children who have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS. Sometimes their grandparents raise them. In other cases, older children have become heads of households: they take care of their younger siblings and work to support them.

Often the only jobs these kids can find are those on the street which are very dangerous and don't pay a lot of money. It is common for young girls to become involved in commercial sex because this is the only way they can support themselves. Although these girls know they can contract HIV/AIDS, they are too poor and have no other way of earning money so they continue working.

Another problem related to poverty and HIV/AIDS is trafficking of girls and women. In some parts of the world, extremely poor families with many children are forced to sell their daughters for money. These girls often are forced to work as commercial sex workers. This is a big problem in South Asia, but in the last few years it is also becoming a problem in some East European countries where poverty has dramatically increased.

Related Links
www.sesamestreet.com
www.unicef.org
www.aidskids.org
YouthNet