Combat HIV / AIDS And Sub-Saharan Africa

In South Africa, AIDS is one of the top causes of death. South Africa has the biggest AIDS/HIV epidemic in the world because of violence against women, poverty, and lack of education. Given this, “Africans account for nearly 70% of those who live with HIV and are dying of AIDS” (Morgenstern, Dr. Michael).

Since its identification approximately two decades ago, HIV has increasingly spread globally, surpassing expectations (1). The number of people living with HIV worldwide is estimated to be 36 million, with 20 million people having died from the disease, giving a total number of 56 million being infected (1). In 2000 alone, 5.3 million people were infected with HIV and there is potential for further spread. HIV infection rates vary all over the world with the highest rates in Sub-Saharan Africa (1). Responding to this epidemic has been a challenge as infection rates have increased worldwide despite tremendous public health efforts by nations (1). The identification of potential interventions to reduce the magnitude of the problem has

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).

In The Invisible Cure, Helen Epstein talks about why HIV/AIDS rate is so high in Africa compared to the rest of the world. Through the book, she gives us an account of the disease and the struggles that many health experts and ordinary Africans went through to understand this disease, and how different African countries approached the same problem differently. Through this paper, I will first address the different ways Uganda and Southern African countries, South Africa and Botswana in particular, dealt with this epidemic, and then explain how we can use what we have learned from these African countries to control outbreaks of communicable disease elsewhere around the world.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS is a pandemic problem affecting global health. At the end of 2015, 36.7 million people were living with HIV/AIDS globally. The rate of incidence is more prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa with almost 1 in every 24 adults living with HIV/AIDS. In the united states, HIV/AIDS is a diversified health problem affecting all sexes, ages and races and involving the transmission of multiple risk behavior. However, with the introduction of various prevention programs and antiretroviral drugs, the incidence of HIV/AIDS has reduced.

In the sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of the population suffers from HIV leading to AIDS. The culprits responsible for this epidemic include the lack of knowledge about the disease, disuse of condoms due to religious practices and the overall poor hygiene. If left untreated, the rampant surge of AIDS can terrribly impact the cost of their healthcare, the African economy and the welfare of the people. This implications justify immediately finding remedies to what ails the sub-Saharan population.

According to the MDGs progress report; maternal mortality ratio stands at 16 in the developed countries, 220 in South Asia and 500 in Sub-Saharan Africa (UNDP, 2012). Lack of access to and utilization of health care services for delivery are among the main reasons for the high maternal and neonatal mortality rates in these regions (WHO, 2012). Maternal death can occur anytime in pregnancy, but delivery is by far the most dangerous time for both mother and baby (UNICEF, 2012).

HIV is an epidemic that is present worldwide, the disease is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa for the most part. In context, of the estimated thirty-four million cases of HIV in 2008, twenty-two to twenty-three cases were in sub-Saharan Africa. On the contrary, 1.4 million people are infected with HIV in North America. (Sigall K. Bell, MD, 2011, p. 38). Further, the sum of global infections approximately two million are under fifteen of age. Approximately 50,000 cases a year are in the United States due to the lack of prevention, which then leads to overall prevention. Potential causes of the spreading of HIV are non-effective educational messages along with the high-risk sexual behavior. Also, this just calls for increasing chances of acquiring

Although HIV is no longer the automatic death sentence it was in the 80’s, it remains a thorn even in our modern societies. For instance, HIV treatment is exponentially expensive, and can only be afforded by residents in developed countries. In fact, most third world nations are still in the 80’s as far as HIV treatment technology is concerned. Fatality rates particularly in Africa are astronomical to say the least (Rensburg 267). With prices, for

HIV/AIDs is a huge epidemic still plaguing society today. The lack of knowledge and technical advances has caused an increasing number of cases. It has made its way around the world since the 1940s, causing countries to join together in the fight against AIDs. With all the campaigning that has been done the numbers of cases continue to rise. Countries have separated the disease into three patterns to make it easier to distinguish the effects that AIDs has on different regions of the world. As well as what subtypes sprout from what areas. HIV/AIDs can be spread in many different ways. The future is still uncertain for the victims whom lives have been dramatically changed by this deadly disease.

The third cause of the spread of AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa are the religious factors of the region, which play a key role in the spread of the disease. In 2009, Pope Benedict, during his trip in Africa banned the use of condoms (medwiser, 2017). This directly helped to increase the spread of AIDS, as the Catholics in the region had more of an incentive to have unprotected sex. In 2008, Muslim leaders had shared a similar view with the Pope (medwiser, 2017). The umbrella Somali Ulema Council said it would use Sharia (Islamic) Law, including flogging, to punish those selling or using condoms. According to Sheikh Nur Barud, who is the chairman of the Somali Ulema Council, “ the use of condoms will increase adultery

From study of United Nations, there were 40 million people in the world living with infection of HIV. Sadly, seventy percent, or 28 million of them lived in sub–Saharan Africa; there are countries in that area have forty percent of population infected and living their life with despair. HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) could destroy the immune system that our bodies use to fight off diseases in 10 years; breaking down of the immune system means that we are unable to fight the infections and causes death. In early 1990’s, GSK (GlaxoSmithKline), BMS (Bristol-Myers Squibb) and some other companies developed a series of medicine which could attack HIV in patient’s body; and later in 1996, Dr. David Ho discovered that by taking a combination of

Around the world, 830 women die every day from preventable complications during pregnancy and delivery (“Maternal mortality” 1). A death during a pregnancy or within 42 days of delivery is referred to as a maternal death (Semba and Bloem 34). The issue of maternal death in developing countries is an often unaddressed and urgent need. Things like poverty, a lack of access to quality healthcare, and cultural practices are causing maternal mortality rates in developing countries to be unnecessarily high (“Leading and underlying causes of maternal mortality” 1). Mothers in developing countries are needlessly dying, but organizations like Delivering Hope International (DHI) have heard their cry and rushed to provide the tools and care these women so desperately need.

“An Intervention Involving Traditional Birth Attendants and Perinatal and Maternal Mortality in Pakistan” conducted by Jokhio, Winter, and Cheng focuses on decreasing maternal mortality and perinatal death by intervening in two different ways. The group intervened by providing training to traditional birth attendants, since forty three percent of childbirths are completed by traditional birth attendants in developing countries (Jokhio, Winter, and Cheng, 2005). Secondly, the intervention provided disposable delivery kits to birth attendants. The disposable delivery kits are of great importance because the majority of maternal deaths in Pakistan occur due to not being able to reach a hospital facility in time of childbirth, therefore the kit provides an option for these circumstances. Thus, hopefully eliminating the eighty percent of maternal deaths that occur in homes due to not having appropriate or aseptic equipment (Jokhio, Winter, and Cheng, 2005).

Just as clearly, experience shows that the right approaches, applied quickly enough with courage and resolve, can and do result in lower HIV infection rates and less suffering for those affected by the epidemic. An ever-growing AIDS epidemic is not inevitable; yet, unless action against the epidemic is scaled up drastically, the damage already done will seem minor compared with what lies ahead. This may sound dramatic, but it is hard to play down the effects of a disease that stands to kill more than half of the young adults in the countries where it has its firmest hold—most of them before they finish the work of caring for their children or providing for their elderly parents. Already, 18.8 million people around the world have died of AIDS, 3.8 million of them children. Nearly twice that many—34.3 million—are now living with HIV, the virus [9].