Aids in Africa. Today the virus has spread rapidly and 22 million people are living with AIDS in Africa since the end of 2007. In this past year 1.5 have died in the Sub-Saharan African region according to Avert, which is an international AIDS charity.

AIDS in Africa

You are a child in Africa, with little food, money, and shelter. You are living in a poor village and you have been a victim of the AIDS virus, or more specifically known as the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The AIDS epidemic is becoming a major issue all over the world. Because people are becoming infected and having unprotected sex they therefore are passing the virus onto their partner. AIDS is an infection of the immune system that is caused by HIV. The transmission of HIV can involve , or , , contaminated , exchange between mother and baby during , , or . Now although this is a rising issue in America, Africa is where the root of the problem lies (AIDS.gov).

Time magazine has reported that 17 million have died since the epidemic began in in 1970 and 3.3 million of them have been children. The magazine explains that the earliest case of AIDS dates back to 1959 in central Africa. A man walked into a hospital clinic to give blood for a study of blood diseases. He walked away and was never heard from again. Doctor’s froze his sample and forgot about it. It wasn’t until a quarter century later, in the mid-1980’s that researchers studying the growing AIDS epidemic took another look at the blood and discovered it contained HIV, which is the virus that causes AIDS. This was the oldest specimen of the AIDS virus ever isolated and may be the answer to how the virus was transferred from animals, monkeys or chimpanzees, to humans(Time).

Today the virus has spread rapidly and 22 million people are living with AIDS in Africa since the end of 2007. In this past year 1.5 have died in the Sub-Saharan African region according to Avert, which is an international AIDS charity.

South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV and AIDS. 20% of its adult population has the disease which is up from 13% in 1997. 42,000 children in the area have been orphaned and 250,000 people die each year from being infected(Time).

Because of the lack of proper treatment, healthcare, and prevention, the AIDS epidemic is only going to get worse and the death toll will continue to rise within the next 10 years. Average Life expectance is 47 years old but without the spreading of AIDS, which is erasing any progress in extending life expectancy, the ...

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A reason why the epidemic is spreading so rapidly is because African men refuse to wear condoms, and they play a key role in preventing HIV infection . There has been an increase in condom use in recent years. Between 2001 and 2005, eight out of eleven countries in sub-Saharan Africa reported an increase in condom use. The distribution of condoms in sub-Saharan Africa has also increased. It was 4.6 for every man in 2001 and has increased to 10 for every man (Avert).

In many African countries, sexual relationships are dominated by men. Women and girls face discrimination, so are vulnerable to HIV infection. (Mbanya,Chungong, and Shu-Acquaye). At the end of 2007 it was estimated that out of the 30.8 million adults worldwide living with HIV and AIDS, around half are women. Women are twice more likely to become infected with HIV through unprotected heterosexual intercourse than men. It is because women are less likely to be able to negotiate condom use because of men refusing to wear a condom (Time).

In 1985 in sub-Saharan Africa there were as many men infected with HIV as there were women. Since the AIDS epidemic has spread and the number of people who are infected has risen the number of women with HIV/AIDS has outnumbered the number of men and remains higher. In 2007 there were around 12 million women living with HIV/AIDS while there are 8.3 million men who currently are living with the infection. (Avert).UNAIDS, The United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS, have estimated that around three quarters of all women with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Orphaned and stuck in poverty by the deaths of parents, girls in Africa are being pushed into sex at very early ages to support themselves, siblings and even their own children. Orphaned girls tend to fare worse then boys because of the low status they hold in society and being so vulnerable to sexual exploitation and are more likely then boys to contract HIV(LaFraniere, AIDS, Pregnancy and Poverty). In Zimbabwe, a new Unicef study has found that orphaned girls are three times more likely to become infected than are girls who have living parents. “Orphaned girls are absolute margins," said James Elder, Unicef's spokesman in Zimbabwe. "They are the very bottom of the barrel. They are much more likely to engage in risky behavior just to survive."

Around 2 million children in sub-Saharan Africa were living with HIV at the end of 2007. This represents more then 85% of all children living with HIV worldwide. The majority of these children will have become infected during pregnancy or through breastfeeding from their mother being HIV-positive. These children were affected at birth and is not their fault they have received the virus however mother to children transmission of HIV is not inevitable, if the mother is given antiretroviral drugs , this risk can be reduced (Guest).

In an article in the New York Times it says that currently in Africa there are 12 million children who are orphans due to their parents being killed by the disease. Throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, children with AIDS were generally considered a lost cause, and the little treatment that existed was limited to adults. That is slowly changing, due to the help of charitable organizations, pediatric AIDS medication has become only $200 a year. International charities, governments and private agencies have all lent a hand to help educate and provide for these children. Despite these effort, only a few children are getting help per year. Around 8,000 children need antiretroviral treatment and only a few 261 are receiving helping by the end of the year. For the children who do not receive any medical attention, nearly half of all untreated HIV positive infants die before the reach the age of 2. This is due to the lack of medication can help them and show results in their health almost overnight. Some American infants who have been infected since birth that received the medication survived in adulthood (LaFraniere, Slowly Africa Starts to Care).

The World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, are putting millions of dollars into the national budget for AIDS programs. The Clinton Foundation persuaded one pharmaceutical firm to cut its prices for pediatric AIDS medicines, and is donating the drugs to Lesotho and other nations. There are other groups out there working to solve this issue as well. PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, is among the most visible legacies of George W. Bush’s two terms as president. Since 2003, the Bush Administration has provided more than $15 billion in aid to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa through PEPFAR. Unfortunately with the current economic crisis, it may affect the funding of the relief to Africa (Avert).

Being a camp counselor I am vulnerable to any issue that affects children. I am sensitive to the issue because it is unfair for these children to be infected with such a horrible disease when it is really inevitable and have no protection or prevention. This epidemic is spreading and death tolls and infection rates will continue to raise if proper care is not given to the people suffering from the virus. This epidemic can be stopped if everybody becomes more aware of what is going on in Africa. If people start taking action, this global issue will gain more recognition and the necessary actions can be taken in order to stop the world wide spread of this deadly disease known as AIDS.

Bibliography

"Basic Information." AIDS.gov. 20 Jan. 2009. 10 Apr. 2009 <http://www.aids.gov/>.

Guest, Emma. Children of AIDS: Africa’s orphan crisis. Sterling, VA: Pluto P, 2001.

LaFraniere, Sharon. "AIDS, Pregnancy and Poverty Trap Ever More African Girls." The New York Times 3 June 2005, International sec. The New York Times. 3 June 2005. The New York Times Company. 16 Apr. 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/international/africa/03mozambique.html?pagewanted=2&fta=y>.

LaFraniere, Sharon. "Slowly, Africa Starts to Care for AIDS Children." The New York Times 8 Mar. 2006. The New York Times Company. 17 Apr. 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/08/international/africa/08lesotho.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1>.

Mbanya, Dora, Stella Chungong, and Florence Shu-Acquaye. Women, the law, and HIV/AIDS in Africa : a conundrum for the legislature? Florida: Vandeplas, 2008.

Nachtwey, James. "Death Stalks a Continent." TIME. 2009. TIME INC. 15 Apr. 2009.

"The HIV and AIDS epidemic in Africa." Avert. 23 Feb. 2009. 11 Apr. 2009 <http://www.avert.org/aidsinafrica.htm>.