As World AIDS Day takes place on 1 December, more than 1,000 Compassion-assisted children in Africa have been confirmed as being HIV-positive. Currently it is estimated that 40 million people worldwide are infected with the HIV virus; 2.3 million of them are children.

Compassion, a leading Christian child sponsorship charity, is working with some of the world's most vulnerable children. The Compassion AIDS Initiative responds to this need by providing prevention, treatment and rehabilitative care for children.

One powerful feature of the initiative is antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, explains Compassion. The medicine prevents HIV from replicating in the body which allows the immune system to recover and defend against other infections.

"There is no doubt these children would have died without these treatments," said Dr Scott Todd, Director of Compassion's Aids Initiative. "This programme lifts the death sentence that once accompanied the diagnosis of Aids."

One such recipient is eight-year-old Iradukunda who attends a Compassion programme in Rwanda. Before receiving assistance from the project, Iradukunda ate just one meal a day and was so sick he could not attend school. Now he gets regular meals, along with antiretroviral (ARV) therapy administered by project staff. Thanks to Compassion's Aids Initiative, Iradukunda is experiencing life where once there was only death.

"Compassion found me in the midst of frustrations of poverty and death," says Judith, Iradukunda's mother. Judith is also HIV-positive and her husband died from AIDS two years ago. "I was poor and I had no hope for tomorrow. Compassion enhanced my life and [the lives] of my children."