Aids in Africa Essay 21

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a chronic, potentially life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIDS weakens the immune system hampering the body’s defense mechanisms. AIDS is known to be a deadly disease, especially if it is not treated in a timely manner. AIDS and HIV is an epidemic that is increasing among the African American population with roots tracing back to Africa, AIDS and HIV needs greater exposure and more awareness within the African American community and in the homosexual community.

There are an immense amount of problems in Africa caused by the AIDS disease. Healthcare providers are available and located all over Africa. Even though they are available, they have only “enough medicine for long-term survival available for 30,000 Africans” (Copson, 3).

The disease AIDS is an acronym for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The first known case of the AIDS virus was found in 1970’s. The AIDS disease was made aware in hospitals among male patients who had same-sex relationships. The two main areas of this disease at that time was in New York and Los Angeles. “In 1982 the AIDS disease was enhancing Kaposi 's sarcoma and Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia” (Scavnicky, 2011). In order for a person to be diagnosed with AIDS is due to having the HIV virus. The first HIV virus was detected around 1950. It was considered to have originated from monkey’s or chimps. It later had been spread to humans. The AIDS name had surfaced after the latter stages of HIV have

HIV and AIDS have affected millions of people throughout the world. Since 1981, there have been 25 million deaths due to AIDS involving men, women, and children. Presently there are 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS around the world and two million die each year from AIDS related illnesses. The Center for Disease Control estimates that one-third of the one million Americans living with HIV are not aware that they have it. The earliest known case of HIV was in 1959. It was discovered in a blood sample from a man in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Looking further into the genetics of this blood sample researchers suggested that it had originated from a virus going back to the late 1940’s or early 1950’s. In 1999,

Consequently, three thousand AIDS cases have been reported in the USA; one thousand have died. At last in 1984, Scientists identify HIV (initially called HTLV-III or LAV) as the cause of AIDS, western scientists become aware that AIDS is widespread in parts of Africa. More than 38,000 cases of AIDS have been reported from 85 countries. The first drug was named “AZT”, which was approved for treating AIDS. Clearly, once the scientist realized that

Although ninety-five percent of people living with HIV/AIDS are in developing countries, the impact of this epidemic is global. In South Africa, where one in four adults are living with the disease, HIV/AIDS means almost certain death for those infected. In developed countries however, the introduction of antiretroviral drugs has meant HIV/AIDS is treated as a chronic condition rather than a killer disease. In developing countries like South Africa, the drugs that allow people to live with the disease elsewhere in the world, are simply too expensive for individuals and governments to afford at market price.

program, one would think that with Africa?s mortality and AIDS rate, they would have no

Most of them do not know they carry HIV and may be spreading the virus to others. Here in the U.S., nearly one million people have HIV infection or AIDS, or roughly one out of every 250 people. At least 40,000 Americans become newly infected with HIV each year, and it is estimated that half of all people with HIV in the U.S. have not been tested and do not know they are carrying the virus.

The HIV epidemic has mainly been concentrated amongst the most economically depleted regions of Africa and, within affected countries; HIV infection is more prevalent in the most marginalized groups. Poverty, disease, famine, political and economic instability, and socioeconomic inequalities continue to aggravate the epidemic on the continent. The positive correlation between poverty and HIV/AIDS can be seen time and time again due to the intensity and transmission of the epidemic having strong links with poverty (Mohammad). Malnutrition, which goes hand in hand with poverty, takes a toll on the immune system resulting in individuals becoming more susceptible to infectious diseases. Not only that, those infected with HIV are more likely to become deprived due to a decline in personal productivity and expensive treatment.

AIDS is a known issue when it comes to global health, however, the region it has the most impact on is Africa. The human immunodeficiency virus, more commonly known as HIV, is a retrovirus. A retrovirus is basically a virus or group of viruses that insert into a host cell in order to replicate. HIV affects cells of the immune system, and destroys or impairs their function. As HIV progresses, the immune system weakens, which causes the person infected to become more susceptible to other illnesses. HIV at its most advanced stage is called acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, otherwise known as AIDS. It can take 10-15 years for an HIV-infected person to develop AIDS. HIV can be transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse, transfusion of contaminated blood, sharing of contaminated needles, and between a mother and her infant during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. HIV infection is usually diagnosed through blood tests detecting whether or not there are HIV antibodies. There is no cure for HIV infection. However, effective antiretroviral drugs can control the virus to an extent, so people living with HIV can live healthier and more productive lives (World Health Organization). Eastern and Southern Africa only accounts for five percent of the world’s population, however it is home to half the world’s population that is living with HIV. The region has been and continues to be the center of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and accounts for 48% of the world’s new HIV infections

HIV is a virus that is spread almost all over the world. Although in some places health care isn’t as developed and therefore it spreads more in those regions. Sub-Saharan Africa holds more than 70%, 25 million, of all HIV positive people in the world. Second highest is Eastern Europe together with Central Asia with 1.3 million. It is spread over most of the world, including Asia and the Pacific, the Caribbean, Central and South America, North Africa and the Middle East and Western and Central Europe (“The Regional Picture”).

During the last three decades, the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus have taken the lives of many women and men in Africa, as well as infecting their unborn children. Is there enough being done to eradicate this disease in Africa, and will the cost of these treatments limit those who do not have the available income to afford these drugs? Scientist and researchers have worked over the years to find a cure or vaccine for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, but it remains the most incurable infection in the world. “There are several promising drug therapies now becoming available which are far too expensive for poor countries to afford” (Economist, Vol. 344,

Despite the fact there are still a large population of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world, a lots of human efforts have been putting on the prevention of the disease since the beginning of outbreak such as educations, medical supports, and continues researches, and more. As a result, the numbers of

The history of the awful words AIDS and HIV has distressed the world for the past 40 years. It has infused panic in the world from its illness, fear, and regrettably death. AIDS was announced to the world in 1980. It is highly believed that this illness began in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Prior to this time, it is undetermined of the number of people infected developed AIDS or HIV because there were not many visible warnings or symptoms. Some researchers note that by the mid 1970’s the virus was current but not recorded as the virus due to not having the knowledge of the disease. By 1980, it is believed that the AIDS and HIV illness had already wandered to five continents, infecting approximately 100,000 to 300,000 people.

Since the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic 15 years ago, the virus has infected more than 47 million people in the world. With more than 2.2 million deaths in 1998, HIV/AIDS has now become the fourth leading cause of mortality and its impact is going to increase. Over 95% of all cases and 95% of AIDS deaths occur in the developing world, mostly among young adults and increasingly in women.