Can you identify the thesis statement here please, thanks:

AIDS in Africa: Dying by the numbers
'We used to think of AIDS as a health issue; we were wrong'
A man cares for his grandson, orphaned by AIDS, in a suburb of the eastern Zambia town of Chipata

(CNN) -- In coming to grips with AIDS, the worst health calamity since the Middle Ages and one likely to be the worst ever, consideration inevitably turns to the numbers.

According to estimates from UNAIDS, an umbrella group for five U.N. agencies, the World Bank and the World Health Organization, 34.3 million people in the world have AIDS -- 24.5 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly 19 million have died from AIDS, 3.8 million of them children under the age of 15.

Among the other statistics:

* 5.4 million new AIDS infections in 1999, 4 million of them in Africa.
* 2.8 million dead of AIDS in 1999, 85 percent of them in Africa.
* 13.2 million children orphaned by AIDS, 12.1 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
* Reduced life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa from 59 years to 45 between 2005 and 2010, and in Zimbabwe from 61 to 33.
* More than 500,000 babies infected in 1999 by their mothers -- most of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

Finally, this: The bubonic plague is reckoned to have killed about 30 million people in medieval Europe. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that AIDS deaths and the loss of future population from the deaths of women of child-bearing age means that by 2010, sub-Saharan Africa will have 71 million fewer people than it would otherwise.

The numbers are staggering, but they do not begin to encompass the suffering and the dramas that put faces on the epidemic.

AIDS in Africa: Dying by the numbers

This isn't a sentence, so it can't be a thesis statement.

'We used to think of AIDS as a health issue; we were wrong'
This is a sentence, but I don't know why it's in quotation marks. It could be turned into a good thesis statement, especially if you get rid of the first-person phrasing.

A man cares for his grandson, orphaned by AIDS, in a suburb of the eastern Zambia town of Chipata
This is a sentence, but it's too specific to be a thesis statement. A thesis statement needs to be the overall idea of what you intend to prove in a paper, whether it's a research paper or an essay. This sentence could be part of the proof, but it's not an "overall" type of sentence.

Here's a really good collection of not-thesis statements and thesis statements!
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/thesistatement.html

I'm sorry, it didn't come with the paragraphs I was asking about originally. Here it is:


CNN) -- In coming to grips with AIDS, the worst health calamity since the Middle Ages and one likely to be the worst ever, consideration inevitably turns to the numbers.

According to estimates from UNAIDS, an umbrella group for five U.N. agencies, the World Bank and the World Health Organization, 34.3 million people in the world have AIDS -- 24.5 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly 19 million have died from AIDS, 3.8 million of them children under the age of 15.

Among the other statistics:

* 5.4 million new AIDS infections in 1999, 4 million of them in Africa.
* 2.8 million dead of AIDS in 1999, 85 percent of them in Africa.
* 13.2 million children orphaned by AIDS, 12.1 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
* Reduced life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa from 59 years to 45 between 2005 and 2010, and in Zimbabwe from 61 to 33.
* More than 500,000 babies infected in 1999 by their mothers -- most of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

Finally, this: The bubonic plague is reckoned to have killed about 30 million people in medieval Europe. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that AIDS deaths and the loss of future population from the deaths of women of child-bearing age means that by 2010, sub-Saharan Africa will have 71 million fewer people than it would otherwise.

The numbers are staggering, but they do not begin to encompass the suffering and the dramas that put faces on the epidemic.

I chose this sentence as the thesis. Am I right?: Please help!!!
Nearly 19 million have died from AIDS, 3.8 million of them children under the age of 15.

It's close, but I don't think it's a thesis statement. What is the writer setting out to prove in a paper with that sentence at the beginning? It's simply a statement of fact. A thesis statement needs to include THE WRITER'S POSITION (opinion,

stance) on the topic.

I'd say that's the main idea sentence of the whole piece, but not a thesis statement.

The thesis statement in this text is not explicitly stated, but it can be inferred as follows: The severity of the AIDS epidemic in Africa cannot be captured by statistics alone; it is a crisis that involves immense suffering and complex personal stories.

To identify the thesis statement, it's important to look for a central argument or main idea that the author is trying to convey. In this case, the author acknowledges the significance of the numbers and statistics related to AIDS in Africa, but emphasizes that they do not fully encompass the depth of human suffering and personal experiences associated with the epidemic.

The author mentions various statistics about AIDS in Africa, including the number of people affected, deaths, infections, and orphans. However, the final sentence states, "The numbers are staggering, but they do not begin to encompass the suffering and the dramas that put faces on the epidemic." This statement suggests that the author believes the true impact of AIDS in Africa goes beyond the numbers and statistics, highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of the personal stories and experiences of those affected by the epidemic.