Alabama’s AIDS Orphans

At the end of 2005 there were 15.2 million AIDS orphans globally. But if you try to dig up numbers for AIDS orphans here in the United States, you’ll be lucky to find a number. That’s because this particular population has been largely overlooked in this country.

A researcher at the University of Alabama has just completed a study examining the issue here in Alabama. Dr. Brownwen Lichtenstein spends most of her time researching AIDS issues in Alabama’s Black Belt and estimates that there are tens of thousands of children, in Alabama alone, who have been orphaned by AIDS or that are at risk of being orphaned by the disease. Click the icon above to listen to an interview with Lichtenstein.