Each day in Africa, 5,500 people die of HIV/AIDS by Inter Press Service 6:15am 6th May, 2007   May 2007    28 Stories, 28 Million Victims, by Mithre J. Sandrasagra. (IPS)    "Humans are predisposed to respond to individual suffering; they are overwhelmed by huge numbers," Henry-Paul Normandin, Canada''s ambassador to the United Nations, told diplomats, U.N. officials and journalists gathered at the Canadian Mission here Monday.    Normandin was introducing Stephanie Nolen, a journalist whose new book "28: Stories of AIDS in Africa" recounts the stories of 28 people in Africa suffering through the AIDS pandemic -- one story for every million Africans infected.    Nolen, the Canada-based Globe and Mail''s Africa Correspondent who has lived in Johannesburg, South Africa since 2003, is one of few Canadian journalists living abroad.    She laments the poor media coverage of the epidemic. "Twice, in four years of reporting in Africa, have I found myself with other Western journalists," Nolen told IPS.    Nolen describes the story of AIDS in Africa as the "biggest story in the world".    An estimated 28 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the U.N. Some 5,500 of those people die from the disease each day. Fourteen million children are parentless because of AIDS, 700,000 children are born infected each year and 90 percent of the world''s 2.6 million children with HIV/AIDS are African.    "Eleven million orphans live in Africa -- this is 80 percent of orphans worldwide," said Victor Mari Ortega, deputy director of the Joint U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS.    Why are the victims being ignored? IPS asked Nolen. "To a large degree it is because they are black, and they are from countries that are economically and politically marginal," she responded.    "I wanted there to be a record of some of these lives," Nolen said. "They fight such incredible battles and especially these people who never do get treatment, they die and they''re gone."    "Nobody stops to ask how these people feel," Nolen said, describing how many observers have told her how victims seem to be happy in spite of their incredible losses. "They smile and welcome guests, but nobody actually asks how they feel." There is widespread psychological trauma in Africa that is going unnoticed, Nolen said.    Nolen''s stories reveal how the disease has managed to spread, how treatment works, and how people can''t get treatment fight to stay alive with "courage and dignity against huge odds".    The reader meets Cynthia Leshomo, Botswana''s Miss HIV Stigma-Free; Andualem Ayalew, an Ethiopian soldier ostracised from the army after revealing he was HIV-positive; Lefa Khoele, a 12-year-old Lesotho boy with the disease desperately trying to pass Grade 3; and others fighting for better access to drug treatments and trying to raise awareness of the disease.    Costs of drugs have fallen dramatically, but they still cost too much for many Africans to access.    "When I started in Africa, treatment cost 10 thousand dollars per year, now it costs just 120 per year," Nolen said.    Nolen tells the story of Tigist Haile Michael, an Ethiopian orphan fending for herself and her little brother Yohannes on the streets of Addis Ababa.    "Tigist is a 14-year-old with a profound sense that if she and her brother are going to survive it is up to her," Nolen explained.    Noe Sebisaba fled his home in Burundi to a Tanzanian refugee camp following his wife Agrippine''s rape amid Tutsi-Hutu violence. Noe discovered he had AIDS while attempting to donate blood in the camp.    "You in the West see long lines of faceless people with baggage and bundles on their heads, you don''t realise these people once had lives," Noe told Nolen.    One chapter focuses on well-known South African AIDS activist Zackie Achmat, in his leading role to change President Thabo Mbeki''s controversial AIDS stance.    Under immense international and public pressure in recent years, President Mbeki, once criticised for questioning the link between HIV and AIDS, has rolled out a national anti-retroviral programme and placed greater emphasis on combating AIDS.    UNAIDS has predicted that without increased international action, there could be 90 million AIDS cases in Africa by 2025.    And yet, says Nolen, the response from the developed world to a continent that could have 18 million AIDS orphans by 2010 has been achingly slow.    There are, however, a few reasons for optimism. Almost two million people were on life-sustaining anti-retroviral drugs in 2006, according to Ortega, although he added that, "this is only one quarter of those in need."    Just 100,000 people received the drugs in 2003, according to UNAIDS. International health care groups are spending generously and coordinating their efforts better than ever before.    New research, such as trials that found male circumcision can reduce the risk of HIV infection, are encouraging breakthroughs. And in some places, attitudes have begun to change and people are no longer hiding the disease, but rather talking about how to protect themselves.    Nolen''s closing words in 28 are a rallying call. "Each day in Africa, 5,500 people die of HIV/AIDS-a treatable, preventable illness. We have 28 million reasons to act," she writes.
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