Monday, September 30, 2019
AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: Current Actions and Prevention
The outbreak of AIDS and HIV has long been a health threat plaguing the Sub-Saharan region of Africa. Millions of people currently suffer from this disease, and the number of afflicted people still continues to rise. With the AIDS virus continues to be incurable, it is clear that medicine alone cannot provide Africa with enough relief or slow the growing percentages of people being infected or born with the disease.The only way that Africa could possibly be rid of AIDS– or at least have the spread of AIDS be stopped– is through preventative measures rather than medicine. It is through education and awareness rather than medicine that the Sub-Saharan African population will be able to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS; and in order for education to be effective, diligence and cooperation are also needed. Sub-Saharan Africa refers to the area of the continent located in or below the Sahara Desert. The countries above this region are considered to be part of the Arab worl d, while Sub-Saharan Africa is referred to as the â€Å"black countries†.These countries include Angola, Botswana, Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Somalia, and Zimbabwe (Avert 2010). With Africa consisting of so many third-world nations in which education is considered a luxury that is available to only a small percentage of the population, it is no wonder why HIV has become such a widespread epidemic.Back in 2008, approximately 22.4 million children and adults were reported as living with HIV, and an estimated 1.4 million African people actually died from AIDS (Avert 2010). What is worse, is that more than 14 million African children have lost at least one parent to AIDS, and many do not have any other living relatives.This is why there are so many children living in orphanages; and many of them, unfortunately, were born carrying the HIV virus. According to UNAIDS, a Joint United Nations Program for HIV and AIDS, â€Å"Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region mo st heavily affected by HIV. In 2008, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 67% of HIV infections worldwide, 68% of new HIV infections among adults and 91% of new HIV infections among children.The region also accounted for 72% of the world’s AIDS-related deaths in 2008†(UNAIDS 2010). These statistics demonstrate how extreme the HIV and AIDS situation is throughout the African continent. It is especially unfortunate how many children are infected with HIV at the time of their birth and are essentially sentenced to a life with the virus.If more and more people are being born as HIV carriers, then the spread of the virus will continue to grow at an exponential rate.When it comes to the African population that is infected with HIV and AIDS, the groups of people who are the most likely to become infected is highly disproportionate.There are more than twice as many women and girls who are carrying the virus than there are boys and men in West Africa alone; and as a whole, females make up 60% of the infected population of sub-Saharan Africa. This imbalance is due to many social and cultural factors that negatively affect the female population. The UNAIDS group describes these statistics as such:Women’s vulnerability to HIV in sub-Saharan Africa stems not only from their greater  physiology susceptibility to heterosexual transmission, but also to the severe social, legal      and economic disadvantages they often confront.A recent comprehensive          epidemiological review†¦ in Lesotho found that sexual and physical violence is a key           determinant of the country’s severe HIV epidemic. According to a recent survey, 47% of          men and 40% of women in Lesotho say women have no rights to refuse sex with their            husbands or boyfriends. (UNAIDS 2010)It is not only a lack of awareness and education that has attributed to the spread of HIV, but also the lack of female rights in certain sub-Saharan African countries. Rape statistics are relatively high, with both grown women and young girls being the victims of these crimes.With relaxed laws failing to protect women from male sex offenders, it is clear why there are so many more women than men who become infected with HIV.The prevalence of female and child prostitution and sex trafficking also contributes greatly to the spread of the virus. It is a combination of a lack of sex education, women’s rights, and general safety that are causing the steady increase of the HIV-positive population along with spikes in the African mortality rates; and these are all issues that medicine alone cannot address.South Africa is currently one of the most HIV-infested countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2009, approximately 5.7 million people were living with the HIV virus, with the majority of these people being female (Avert 2010). In order to combat these figures and the further spread of HIV, â€Å"†¦the South African Government launched a major counseling and testing campaign (HCT) in 2010.By raising awareness of HIV the campaign aims to reduce the HIV incidence rate by 50% by June 2011†(Avert 2010). First, earlier testing is now being offered to pregnant women who have already tested positive for HIV in order to determine whether or not the virus has been passed on to their child.More importantly, are the measures the South African government have taken in order to spread AIDS awareness. The government has funded everything from different from commercials, to door-to-door campaigning, to public speakers and free HIV tests. Many surveys have proven that these campaigns have been well-received by certain age groups.More than 75% of South African between the ages of 15-24 years old, for example, reported having seen at least one of the campaigns; but the as age increases, the percentage o f people who have heard messages of AIDS awareness tends to decline (Avert 2010).This is most likely due to the majority of these campaigns targeting individuals of the younger generations– those who may not yet be sexually active, and those who are young enough to make early decisions that will protect them in the future.Although the awareness of HIV and AIDS has grown, people are not necessarily aware of how to prevent the virus from being transmitted and spread. The South African government has therefore been distributing hundreds of millions of male and female condoms among people, educating them on how to properly use this form of contraception and how condoms offer protection from sexually transmitted diseases.Studies show that condoms are mostly used by teenagers and young adults, which accounts for the decrease in the percentage of young people with HIV over the past few years. Overall, approximately 62% of people in South Africa habitually used condoms during sex in 2008, which is a dramatic improvement from the 27% figure back in 2002 (Avert 2010).As an additional form of HIV and AIDS prevention, clinics have begun to offer male circumcisions, as it was found that the procedure decreases one’s chances of contracting the virus by 60%. â€Å"It was estimated that a program with full coverage of male circumcision could prevent half a million infections and 100,000 deaths within a decade, with these figures rising in the decades to follow†(Avert 2010).This shows how the South African government has targeted HIV from a preventative standpoint, focusing on younger generations and measures such as condoms and male circumcision in order to educate the country about the virus and how it can be spread.Along with attacking the AIDS epidemic by increasing awareness and education, Nigeria has also taken a stand against the spread of HIV by addressing the political problems behind it.As part of the UNAIDS group, the country has released a pro gress report summarizing the actions that the government has taken in regards to the virus. The Nigerian government states:Nigeria has [formed] the Global Coalition of Woman and AIDS by establishing and      inaugurating National Action for Women Coalition and AIDS†¦ NAWOCA addresses          the vulnerability of girls, women and children through increase access to information and   education on prevention, treatment, care and support for HIV and reproductive heath          services. (UNAIDS 2010)This is a prime example of how HIV can be targeted from several directions that can all contribute to the future health of the African people. Nigeria has also increased its budget regarding HIV education, testing, and the funding of groups such as the NAWOCA in order to further their progress in decreasing the annual number of new infections.One important aspect of AIDS that should be recognized is that it is not only the disease itself that threatens the sub-Saharan African population. People typically consider AIDS to be a product of infectious diseases when, in reality, it is also the product of risky behavior (Green 2003: 57).If people are having unprotected sex on a regular basis, for example, they are automatically putting themselves at risk of contracting HIV or any other sexually transmitted disease.Being more aware of what these diseases are will not necessarily prevent them from ever being infected– educating them on how to alter their behavior and practice safe sex habits, however, will. Educating Africans about safe sex is just as important has teaching them about AIDS awareness or the dangers of the HIV virus; but in Africa, this is not always an easy task.Many schools are still uneasy about discussing safe sex and diseases, because some believe the topic to be inappropriate. Some students also feel very uncomfortable when talking about this subject with adults or peers.Still, it is obvious that the benefits of safe sex education far outweighs the risks of not knowing about it at all. Rather than focusing on the so-called taboo nature of the topic and how uncomfortable some may feel, schools all over Africa must make a collaborative effort to be diligent and thorough in what they teach their students (Onyancha 2009: 86).
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