Mr. Speaker, “Children in a world marked by AIDS” is the theme for World AIDS Day. All the children of Canada and throughout the entire world will spend their entire lives dealing with the risk of infection by the virus that causes AIDS.
In Quebec, the latest figures indicate that AIDS hits children under the age of 15 hard, particularly marginalized youth. Some 3.8 million children under that age have been infected with HIV since the start of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, and 2.7 million of those have probably died by now, according to the latest UN AIDS report.
AIDS is emerging as a leading problem for youth in Canada. The medium age of new infections dropped from age 32 in 1982 to age 23 in 1986-90.
Today's announcement by the Minister of Health to commit $42.2 million a year over the next five years will ensure that our efforts to educate our youth to the dangers of AIDS and to provide treatment, care and support to those suffering will be maintained during this crucial time.
In a world with AIDS children are everyone's responsibility. We owe this to the next generation. We owe this to our children's future.