History+of+AIDS

__**The Beginnings of AIDS**__ AIDS was quickly spread during the late 1970s and all over the world patients were diagnosed with cancer, little to be known that they were spreading AIDS through the needles and equipment the doctors used on them. Then, in Africa, around 1981 Ugandan doctors began diagnosing AIDS as "slim" and in Zambia and Zaire noticed a cancer epidemic that did not respond to treatment and called it Kaposi Sarcoma. Kaposi Sarcoma had the same symptoms of "slim", and finally, around the late 1980s they were know as AIDS. Doctors then ruled out three main causes of AIDS: sexual transmission, blood transfusions, and passing from the mother to child.

Around the same time, a new drug, AZT was discovered to stop AIDS from passing to mother to child. Unfortunately, the majority of Africans could not afford the drug, nor did governments feel the necessity of the drug. South Africa, for example, was on a government hiatus, due to the apartheid. The other governments just did not see the drug as priority, so they didn't buy or provide the drug for their people.

In Africa, majority of the countries have no public health system or a very poor designed health system, so it is hard to receive proper drugs and treatment. Also, woman are inferior to men, and have no control over their own bodies, so are raped constantly without condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS. Governments do not provide enough resources for the people and in turn, they are suffering. The governments and their people are also in debt for borrowing other things like food, and expensive imports.
 * __Social Problems of AIDS__**

AIDS orphans are children under the age of 18, who are infected by AIDS from their mothers. Normally, their mothers are too sick to take care of them, and they do not know their father, or he is dead. They grow up living with AIDS and don't realize how they got it or even that they have it until symptoms appear.

__**The Future of AIDS in Africa**__ Unless the health care problems are solved AIDS will continue to explode in Africa. Even as new drugs are released, Africans are too poor to afford any. As of right now, only less then 1% of people living with AIDS are receiving treatment. Also, until woman are treated equally, rape will be the main cause of AIDS in Africa.

__**Sources:**__ "AIDS Culprits." The Progressive 65.3 (March 2001): 8. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Central York High School. 11 Feb. 2008 <[|http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.] Glausiusz, Josie. "Why do so many Africans get AIDS?." Discover 24.6 (June 2003): 12(1). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Central York High School. 11 Feb. 2008 <[|http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.] "History of AIDS." __Avert.Org__. 11 Jan. 2008. Avert. 17 Feb. 2008 . Masland, Tom. "Africa: Hustling for Corpses: Because of AIDS, South Africa's cemeteries are out of space and bootleg funerals are the nation's hottest new business. The birth of Deathtown." Newsweek (Sept 17, 2001): 45. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Central York High School. 11 Feb. 2008 <[|http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.] McGeary, Johanna. "Death Stalks A Continent: In the dry timber of African societies, AIDS was a spark. The conflagration it set off continues to kill millions. Here's why." Time 157.6 (Feb 12, 2001): 36+. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Central York High School. 11 Feb. 2008 <[|http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.]

Amanda L