Between 1990 and 2000, AIDS hit like a silent hurricane - picking up speed and gaining strength. I became swept up in the hurricane when I moved to Southern Africa in 1997. I was there as World Vision realized that the impact from AIDS could undo years of developmental progress. Millions of adults in their prime were dying, leaving children behind to be cared for by grannies, aunts and uncles. Having awakened to this sobering reality, World Vision launched the Hope Initiative in 2001.

In a private meeting with President Sarkozy and representatives of French and international NGOs, World Vision India national director Dr Jayakumar Christian challenged the President to consider the 200 million children who experience malnutrition.

Despite the rainy weather, nearly a dozen World Vision staff rallied together in the shadow of Paris’ most famous landmark, the Eiffel Tower, at the Plaza of Human Rights Tuesday morning. The day marked the beginning of a week-long effort to use the annual G20 Summit to bring attention to child health around the world.

World Vision congratulates President Sarkozy and Carla Bruni on the news a precious baby girl, Giulia, has joined their family. Baby Sarkozy is privileged to be born to such parents, and also to be born in France where she is 43 times more likely to celebrate her fifth birthday than a baby born this year in the former French colony, Chad.

Child mortality rates are not only the problem but also a symptom and indicator of several other issues prevalent in Albanian society today. World Vision in Albania is committed to tackling these health issues through capacity building of health professionals, educating communities to adopt healthy life-style practices and advocacy initiatives.

Every year the deaths of one million children under the age of five could be prevented if international efforts were focused on increasing the number of women immediately and exclusively breastfeeding their babies. World Vision is calling for action with the beginning of World Breastfeeding Week this August 1 through 7.

“Last night’s rain makes the canal especially polluted,” says Pravitchaya Laeyoung, as she overlooks the Khlong Prem Canal in Bangkok, Thailand. Sponsored children are working to clean the canal by changing attitudes.

World Vision recently worked with the World Council of Churches Armenia Inter-Church Round Table Foundation to organise a training course for Armenian priests around issues such as HIV prevention and environmental degradation. (On World Vision's Middle East / East Europe website)

Ernie Rose could have been out labouring in the fields or working as a servant in the house of a wealthy family like her mother. She stopped schooling during Grade 5 in order to look after her younger siblings. “I felt compelled to take care of my younger brothers when my parents were separated,” recounts 13-year-old Ernie Rose. Thankfully, through World Vision’s Education for All campaign, Ernie Rose is now back in school.

A shortage of pediatricians is hurting Armenian children, especially those living on the peripheries of the country, says a World Vision-funded study released during round-table discussions in Yerevan, Armenia initiated as part of World Vision’s Child Health Now campaign.

The third edition of the "Khoshoracuyc" (Magnifier) newspaper has just been published, and students like 15-year-old Arsen Antonyan are determined to make it an agent for change by reporting on issues like the absence of a proper garbage collection system in most districts of their community.

A public exhibition in the Armenian capital Yerevan showcased more than 40 photos taken by Armenian youth within the ''See it Our Way'' photoproject organised by World Vision and UK charity Photo Voice to illustrate the realities of human trafficking from the perspective of Armenian youth. (On World Vision's Middle East / East Europe website)

Children and youth from World Vision’s LIFE (Children in Crisis) project were recently trained to use the power of photography to raise public awareness of human trafficking– first in their neighbourhood and then across Albania. (On World Vision's Middle East / East Europe website)

A recent study by the University of Michigan shows that children are being psychologically damaged by their exposure to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. World Vision is helping through group psychological counseling and support, workshops and Child Friendly Spaces. (On World Vision's Middle East / East Europe website)

Young anti-trafficking advocates in Yangon are studying dramatic ways to convey their message to vulnerable Myanmar youth. Their training is part of a multifaceted approach by World Vision, which is working to reduce human-trafficking.

“World Vision anticipates that this law will bring new hope to children and youth who will pursue their education based on the belief that they can have real employment opportunities,” said Patricio Cuevas-Parra, World Vision’s Advocacy Director in Lebanon. (On World Vision's Middle East / East Europe website)

For the first time, children and youth from World Vision’s Life project (Children in Crisis – CiC) in the Albanian capital Tirana had the chance to come together as a Life Skills Youth Group and decide what they want to change in their lives, as well as in the community where they live. (On World Vision's Middle East / East Europe website)

As South Africa was setting the stage for the craze of the World Cup to begin, Vietnam was teaming up with more than 100 other nations across the world to harness the power of football in a call for education for all. (On World Vision's Asia / Pacific site)

World Vision’s Charles Kariuki, a CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards winner, has called upon journalists and communicators to use their profession to tell the story of children. (On World Vision's Africa website)

With the support of the school board and World Vision, some 20 students on the Student Council of the 'Sveti Sava' primary school in Kotor Varoš, Vrbas, are seeking to bring joy to their school. (On World Vision's Middle East / East Europe website)

From cluster bombs to child labour, Lebanese children have shed light on the issues affecting children in Lebanon in an unprecedented child-led report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva. (On World Vision's Middle East / East Europe website)

A pioneering anti-trafficking training course, held recently, opened the eyes of Lebanese policemen on Lebanon’s hidden phenomenon: human trafficking. (On World Vision's Middle East / East Europe website)

At the age of only eleven years, Irene was forced to run away from her home to escape what the community made her believe was a traditional obligation - female genital mutilation.

International relief and development agency World Vision acknowledges the generous impulse to help Haitian children displaced by last week’s massive earthquake by rushing adoptions of children who seem to have been orphaned in the disaster. However, the agency warns that this may lead to adoptions that inadvertently separate families or risk a lapse in child protection, with unintended consequences.