By taking the issue directly to the U.N. security council, Gore was able to outline a new U.S. effort to combat the AIDS epidemic, offering $150 million for vaccine research, prevention programs and new education campaigns in Africa. Still, the plan continues to present AIDS strictly as a medical problem without considering the broader social economic implications of the crisis. Thus, public awareness remains low. Some of the efforts have actually made the situation worse, especially at provincial and local levels. Many local governments simply do not want to know or let others know about AIDS in their respective regions.
In more recent years, promising developments have been seen in global efforts to address the AIDS epidemic, including increased access to effective treatment and prevention programs. Access to treatment and care has also greatly increased, albeit from a very low starting level in many countries. A test vaccine was even created, this was known as the MRKAd5 HIV-1 trivalent vaccine (Wagner 141) . This vaccine was studied for several years in phase I and II trials involving thousands of volunteers in the Americas, Africa, and Australia to evaluate safety and immune responses However, as the number of people living with HIV continues to grow, as does the number of deaths due to AIDS.
HIV Is a Man-Made product perspective
A number of conspiracy theorists have suggested that AIDS is actually a man-made disease. There is a close correlation between the rise of genetic engineering and mixing of viruses in the early 1970s. This connection persists in the form of the many unprecedented "emerging diseases" caused by "new viruses" that continue up to the present time. The earliest AIDS cases in America can be traced back to the time period when the hepatitis B experiment began at the New York Blood Centre. The inoculations ended in October 1979, less than two years before the official start of the epidemic. Ironically the vaccine was developed in chimpanzees - the primate now thought to contain the "ancestor" virus.
There is also a concealed connection between the outbreak of AIDS in Africa and the widespread vaccine programs conducted by the World Health Organization in the 1970's in Central Africa, most notably the smallpox eradication program. In 1987, a London Times science writer Pearce Wright suggested that the smallpox vaccine program could have awakened a "dormant" AIDS virus infection in Africa. Another scientist and doctor by the name of Dr. Boyd E. Graves has suggested that AIDS was the culmination of biowarfare research conducted by the United States Government throughout the 20th century. Dr. Graves also suggested that Gulf War syndrome may be related to AIDS, and that an effective cure for for the virus has already been developed.
The idea of a man-made AIDS virus is often considered a paranoid belief. However the sad truth is that governments do indeed experiment on unsuspecting citizens, such as those living in impoverished and developing countries; it is even a played fact that the HIV “strain” in America is different from the HIV strains found in Africa. A Harvard virologist named Max Essex claims that American HIV strains spread more easily via anal sex; whereas the African strains spread more efficiently via vaginal sex (Iliffe 47). The “different” HIV strain in America is further evidence that “American AIDS” did not originate in Africa.
In 1986, the Soviet Union shocked the world by claiming that HIV was secretly developed at a U.S. Army Medical Command installation located in Frederick, Maryland. This claim was immediately dismissed as “infectious propaganda”, and scientists are very opposed to these man-made theories. Scientists also discount any connection between the official breakout of AIDS in Africa and the experimental vaccine programs.
It is believed that HIV "debuted" in humans at least three separate times (Wagner 104). Scientists look at recent samples of HIV to determine the virus's overall age. However HIV/AIDS is an unusual virus; with constantly mutating strains. It changes its DNA by both mutation and, more often, recombination, when two strains merge within the body and exchange genetic material. This process is referred to by scientists as "viral sex" (Wagner 105), and it may partially explain why it is to difficult for scientists to make an effective treatment of vaccine.
AIDS, Sexuality, and Gender in Africa.
HIV is undoubtably transmitted mostly through heterosexual intercourse. In fact, heterosexual intercourse is now responsible for %70-%80 of all HIV transmissions worldwide and %99 of AIDS and HIV cases in Africa come from sexual transmission, and virtually all is heterosexual.(Wagner 128). These estimates are mostly derived from studies in the developed world. In developing countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, several factors such as circumcision practices, poor acceptance of condoms, and patters of sexual partner selection can increase the likelihood of heterosexual transmission to %20 or even higher (Wagner 124).
In almost all of Africa, traditional forms of sex education delivered by older family members have lost their importance. At the same time, there are often strong sanctions against open discussion of sexual matters across adjacent generations. Nor have schools adequately taken up the task. In consequence, young people frequently learn about sex from their peers, and not always accurately. These patterns may be partly a function of gender differences in the devastating effects of HIV on the continent
Conclusion
The issue of HIV/AIDS in Africa is complex, but most of all; devastating. The perspectives as well as viewpoints on the issue are endless. Many differing opinions and theories exist on the origins, cause, and solutions to the infectious disease. However it is known fact that the exact origins of the virus still remain unknown and many individuals in developing nations are uneducated on the causes, risks, and preventions of the disease. With this lack of information, education, preventative measures, and adequate support from developed countries its no longer a surprise that HIV/AIDS remains the number one cause of death in Africa.
Works Cited
Baylies, Corolyn. AIDS, Sexuality, and Gender in Africa
Routledge: New York, 2000
History of AIDS in South Africa. Dec. 2005
<http://www.avert.org/history-aids-south-africa.htm
Haugen , David. Africa: Opposing Viewpoints
Greenhaven Press: Michigan, 2008.
Wagner, Viqi. Opposing Viewpoints AIDS
Greenhaven Press: Michigan, 2008.
Frederick and Kanabus: HIV and AIDS in Africa
