Aids In Africa
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AIDS In Sub-Sahara Africa
Fifty million people infected 22 million dead this is the reality of HIV/AIDS in Africa. The thesis of this report is the AIDS “pandemic” in Africa, specifically Africa South of the Sahara. This report will discuss the impact AIDS in having on the region.
First let us discuss the difference between a pandemic and an epidemic. PANDEMIC is an epidemic over a wide geographic area (usually world-wide), affecting large numbers of people at the same time. EPIDEMIC is a disease or event that occurs in many more people than would normally be expected over a given period of time.
Africa is where scientist believe the HIV/AIDS virus originated and is now at the
heart of the AIDS epidemic. Africa has a little more than ten percent of the worlds
population, but it has more than sixty percent of the people who are infected with the
HIV/AIDS virus.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the region HIV & AIDS has hit the hardest. It is estimated
that 25.8 million people will be living with HIV at the end of 2005 with approximately
3.1 million new cases occurring during this year. Just in the past year the virus has
claimed the lives of an estimated 2.4 million people.
The countries with the highest rate of infection are all located in Sub-Sahara
Africa. “In four southern African countries, the national adult HIV prevalence rate has
risen higher than was thought possible and now exceeds 24%. These countries are
Unlike in the Western world where AIDS primarily targets homosexuals and
intravenous drug users, in Africa it is a heterosexual disease, with the infection rate 20
percent higher among women than men.
The life expectancy has fallen to as low as 47 years as compared to 62 years of
age without HIV/AIDS. This is leaving the very old to care for the very young. In most
countries AIDS is destroying years of development.
AIDS is affecting all aspects of life in these countries. When someone dies,
usually the main wage earner, it can create a severe financial burden on the surviving
family members. The remaining members must find another source of income as well as
pay for a funeral. It also leaves children without parents. It is estimated that AIDS has
left 12 million children without parents. With this number expected to rise to more than
18 million by 2010. The age of these children is pretty consistent across most countries.
With about 15 percent of orphans being 0-4 years old, 35 percent being 5-9 years old, and
50 percent being 10-14 years old. The majority of these people are poor, losing a family
member makes the family even more improvised. Some children go to live with
relatives already in dire financial straights. Adding more children only intensifies the
issue.
In Africa you must pay to send your children to school. The majority of the
families who are taking in a relatives child can barely afford an education for their own
children. So the education system is being affected not only by lack of students, but by
the deaths of educators from AIDS. As teachers die there is no one to replace them and
this is also causing serious education issues.
HIV/AIDS is also affecting the labor force, setting back economic progress and
social progress. The majority of people infected with HIV/AIDS are between the ages of
15 and 49. AIDS impacts the labor force due to the loss of so many in the usual age
range of workers. More people have died of this dreadful disease than all the wars of the
twentieth centaury.
With all the HIV and AIDS related cases in the region some would ask “Why
dont they wear condoms?” Among Africans there is a stigmata associated with the
wearing of a condom. Women are labeled “whore” and “prostitute” and were beaten and
thrown into the street if they were to ask their partner to wear a condom.
In most African countries people do not use the term “AIDS”. They say someone
has T.B. or malaria. If a person does admit they have AIDS they could be shunned and
ridiculed by family, friends, and society. There have been some incidents of people
being stoned to death. Until recently doctors had not been allowed to put the words
HIV/AIDS in a persons medical file.
Hospitals are packed with dying people who are seeking just the smallest amount
of relief from their pain and suffering. We, the Western world need to do more to help
curb this horrific “pandemic”. With the modern ability to travel outside of their home
countries how long do you think it will be before this is no longer an issue in Africa?
People will travel and it