Following the end of Apartheid in 1994, South Africa has made great strides. More than a million houses have been built for the poor and millions more people now have access to clean water and to sanitation facilities. However, extreme inequalities in wealth and access to basic service persist. The provinces with the greatest numbers of children have the highest unemployment and the poorest literacy rates.

South Africa has the world’s highest total number of people living with HIV/AIDS (an estimated 5.5 million people by the end of 2005). Around 1,000 people die of AIDs related illnesses every day.

More than a million school age children do not attend school due to malnutrition, no local school, lack of resources and their parents’ own lack of education. The number of children living in institutions or on the streets is also believed to be increasing dramatically.