Diseases AIDS

About Aids in Africa

Published at 02/09/2012 18:22:31

Introduction

The aids in Africa pandemic has been ongoing for many years and it has resulted in millions of deaths. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest population of people living with HIV and AIDS globally. Close to 23 million people are living with this deadly disease. Aids in Africa has turned millions of children into orphans. Africa mostly consists of developing countries. The AIDS epidemic has unfortunately depreciated chances of growth in most every sector of the affected countries. As such, aids in Africa has crippled economic, political, social, and industrial development. What’s more, Sub-Saharan Africa has the challenge of trying to rebuild countries that are losing millions of citizens each year. Medical facilities and appropriate medication is also an overwhelming issue to deal with. Aids in Africa is a harrowing problem that is completely oppressing a lot of communities.

History

Even though every country is affected in its own way, working on minimizing the number of people getting infected is the goal of each country. Educating people about aids in Africa and creating awareness of this disease is the number one priority in many African countries. South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland suffer the largest percentage of adults infected with HIV. Getting the proper antiretroviral medication is sometimes problematic for these countries. This poses another problem for adults living with aids in Africa. Children do not get a chance to grow up with parents and others are born already with the HIV virus. Their lives are thus short lived and anguished.

Features

Aids in Africa became an issue in the early 1970s. It was not until the 80s and 90s however that it became an epidemic. A lot of the regions affected by aids in Africa were mostly poor communities. Many governments had no immediate responses or solutions to the situation. As a result, many lives were lost and communities disintegrated. Other nations worldwide did not view aids in Africa as an epidemic. In fact, many health organizations concentrated on illnesses such as malaria, yellow fever, and other tropical diseases.

Even though many African countries tried to form campaigns and create awareness, the message was not getting along fast enough. Aids in Africa was spreading quickly through sexual intercourse and poor medical facilities. Countries that did not know what to make of the disease begun to dishonor infected persons. South Africa had quite a difficult time as one of the countries affected by aids in Africa. People blatantly killed those infected with the HIV virus. On the other hand, the government stalled provision of medication for those with AIDS in the country. The 90s were a very bleak time for countries dealing with aids in Africa.

Tips and comments

However, the number of people living with aids in Africa has slowly declined, though the disease is still a prevailing issue. Cases of new infections have reduced and a lot more projects have come up. AIDS awareness is now more prevalent though aids in Africa continues to be the leading cause of death. Life expectancy in many African countries has reduced significantly. Nonetheless, African governments, global health organizations and third world countries continue to work tirelessly to curb the situation

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