The figures are mostly too baffling and too large to properly comprehend but according to UNAIDS in 2005 there were around 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide - of which just under 30 million were living in sub-Saharan Africa.

The reasons for the amazingly unequal burden of this disease on sub-Saharan Africa, are extensive and complex and clearly comprise the consequences of extreme poverty and deprivation on a number of levels.

The problems of illiteracy and lack of education, lack of access to clean water and healthcare, unemployment and economic poverty and social deprivation have been present for decades. They have been exacerbated by civil wars, government corruption and abuse and undoubtedly by exploitation by western governments. There unquestionably still remains, on a plethora of levels, a huge gap and inequality in expectations and realities between the developed and what is still regarded as the civilized world.

The situation in Kenya is similarly desperate. The overall HIV/AIDS figures for Kenya show a prevalence of about 10%. There are around 35 million people in Kenya. UNAIDS figures for 2003 estimated the number of adults and children living with HIV/AIDS to be 1.2 million, of which 100,000 were children under the age of 15 years old. In the west of Kenya, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is up to 35% in some areas - with an overall prevalence in Nyanza province of 25%. In 2003, the number of children under 17 years old who had lost one or both parents, and who were still living, was 650,000. This represents up to a quarter of all children. And the orphan population is growing - it is predicted to be up to 1 in 3 children by 2010.