AIDS

HIV/AIDS in Africa



History


 * AIDS in Africa was not always known as AIDS, it was previously called 'Slim Disease.' Doctors then made the realization that 'Slim Disease' was HIV/AIDS. Doctors knew that when someone would get the disease, there was little to no help that they could give them. AIDS has been prevalent in Africa for a long time. The goal has been to eliminate AIDS, but the goal has not yet been met. The goal to get rid of AIDS has been around for a long time because it is a primary killer in many countries.
 * Extensive spread of HIV started in sub-Saharan Africa in the late 1970s. BY the early 1980s, HIV was found in a geographic band stretching from West Africa across to the Indian Ocean, by 1987 the epidemic stared to move south. South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world, 5 million.


 * Fast Facts
 * The adult HIV prevalence is more than 5% in Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya.
 * New sub-Saharan HIV infections have peaked in the late 1990’s.
 * In many countries AIDS is erasing many years of progress extending life expectancy.
 * AIDS was around before the first diagnosis, although doctors called it the 'slim disease.'
 * The first diagnosed case of AIDS in Uganda was found in 1982. The disease is said to have started from Lake Victoria. During this time doctors made the connection between 'slim disease' and AIDS. President Museveni realized that Uganda had a major AIDS problem. He wanted to have a major HIV prevention program.
 * The first control program was set up in 1987 to educate the public about how to avoid becoming infected with HIV. This control program called attention to the ABC approach. This stood for abstain, be faithful, and use condoms.
 * A second phase went from 1992-2000. The HIV prevelence dropped majorly. HIV was in 15% of all adults in 1991, and in 30% in pregnant woman. In 2001 the percent dropped to 5%. The government said the ABC approach may have helped, but mainly the decline in HIV was due to deaths.
 * HIV is now accepted to be from an SIV, a Simian Immunodeficiency Virus, because SIVs bear some of the same traits as HIV
 * HIV is thought to have come from monkey meat (butchering and eating) and jumped to humans.
 * AIDS was spread through gay relations.
 * Extensive spread of HIV started in sub-Saharan Africa in the late 1970s. BY the early 1980s, HIV was found in a geographic band stretching from West Africa across to the Indian Ocean, by 1987 the epidemic stared to move south. South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world, 5 million.
 * Bostwana and Swaziland have the highest prevalence levels, 38% and 33%.
 * West Africa has been relatively less affected by HIV infection than other regions of sub-Saharan Africa.
 * At least 1% of pregnant women you attend antenatal clinics are HIV infected.

Social Issue
 * Many children are forced to do all the labor that would usually fall on the parent or guardian of the household. Children have to do all the work because their parents are too sick from AIDS. Some jobs that they must do include making an income, providing basic health care, taking care of family members, and household work. Because of this children can't get an education.
 * Life expectancy is getting lower because adults are dying earlier and earlier. The average age of life in Sub-Saharan Africa is 47. It could have been 62 without AIDS.
 * The number of teachers are becoming lower. This is because a lot of teachers are falling ill and there aren't any replacements.
 * Many households are affected with AIDS and don’t have the funds to send their children to school. This causes a lower illiteracy rate.
 * Job rates have been dropping because of AIDS. Replacing people is hard because of the specific skills called for each job and training people can be very expensive.
 * More than half of hospitals in Africa are occupied with AIDS patients. This leaves less space for people with other health problems.

Political Impact
 * 95% of AIDS funding for Tanzania is from foreign donors. 2/3 of foreign donations come from the US. Less than a quarter of funding is spent on AIDS prevention.
 * Economic cuts such as job losses and budget cuts could affect the distribution of antiretrovirals and other medical options.
 * There are some laws in place to supposedly protect people against AIDS/HIV, but are also discriminating against people's human rights to have sex with other people and such forth.
 * Some sources say that because of some sexual practices, females must be protected in order to reduce the AIDS/HIV infection rate.
 * There are laws to protect women from male harassment, but are not strictly enforced, due to a male majority parliament.

Economic Impact
 * This AIDS epidemic has significantly impacted Africa’s economy. Many employees have been absent due to either illness, or to attend to a funeral because of this disease. For example, a platinum mining company in South Africa reported a rate of four employees dying a month. As a result, companies are forced to hire less experienced employees. This causes labor productivity to be greatly reduced; therefore many African countries have to rely on more imports. In addition, since labor is scarce do to so many illnesses, African businesses are unable to make labor cheap and to increase profits, which in the process, is making it less desirable to other industries to make investments with these Africa businesses. Moreover, those countries worst affected by this AIDS outbreak have been having a gross domestic product loss of around 1.5% each year. Statistics such as that show that it is more necessary for a solution to be created for this problem.

Future > The goal for Africa is to fund all countries and help prevent AIDS from coming about. Organizations that support Africa want AIDS to go away as fast as possible. Therefore they are funding countries and spreading the word about how to prevent AIDS, and how to keep it controlled once someone has it. Africa will have a bright future with getting rid of AIDS if more people support the organizations and also support the governments that are trying to help get rid of HV/AIDS.
 * The future of AIDS in Africa is looking up in some countries, while in others it is not looking as good. Some countries have the money to help stop AIDS from spreading, while others cannot spread the word about how AIDS is spreading. When people cannot spread the word or have any preventions for the disease, the disease continues to spread. This then spreads to other countries. Then the number rises for HIV/AIDS.
 * In East Africa HIV/AIDS patients should be getting better care.
 * The plan is to have the East African Legislative Assembly approve this so that the care in African countries for AIDS can be helped.

Works Cited Beresford, Belinda. "AIDS Takes an Economic and Social Toll." Welcome to the United Nations: It's Your World. June 2001. Web. 27 Sept. 2010. . "The Future of AIDS Policy, Happening Now in East Africa." Human Rights | Change.org. 5 Apr. 2010. Web. 27 Sept. 2010. . "HIV and AIDS in Africa." AIDS & HIV Information from the AIDS Charity AVERT. 14 July 2010. Web. 24 Sept. 2010. . "HIV & AIDS in Uganda." AIDS & HIV Information from the AIDS Charity AVERT. Web. 24 Sept. 2010. .

Stover, John, and Lori Bollinger. "The Policy Project." //The Economic Impact of AIDS//. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2010. [|www.policyproject.com/pubs/SEImpact/SEImpact_Africa.PDF]

"The impact of HIV & AIDS on Africa." //AIDS & HIV information from the AIDS charity AVERT//. N.p., 3 Aug. 2010. Web. 27 Sept. 2010. . "The impact of HIV and AIDS on Africa's economic development." //National Center for// //Biotechnology Information//. N.p., 26 Jan. 2002. Web. 27 Sept. 2010. .

"The Origin of HIV and the First Cases of AIDS." AIDS & HIV Information from the AIDS Charity AVERT. 10 Sept. 2010. Web. 27 Sept. 2010. .

Hecht, Fredrick. "AIDS - a knol by Frederick (Rick) Hecht."//Knol - a unit of knowledge: share what you know, publish your expertise.//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2010. .