Mr. Speaker, today is World AIDS Day, yet from Bangkok to Bombay, Capetown to Vancouver, the deadly disease wrecks havoc.
In Canada the rate of infection, particularly amongst our youth, is appallingly high. In fact, a recent survey shows that 27% of youth did not know anything about AIDS whatsoever, many believing that it affected only intravenous drug abusers.
Internationally the virus is wrecking havoc. In the next five years it has been estimated that one-tenth of the Russian population will be HIV positive. In Africa, life expectancy has dropped from 65 years to 40 years. Many pregnant women who need drugs to protect their unborn children do not have access to them, so the babies get it too.
We need a cure. We need education. We need action to deal with this scourge and to stop the epidemic of AIDS. Let us hope that next year we will have good news, that the tide will change to reverse this illness, that less and less people will be infected and that more and more lives will be saved.