2 of 11

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 14

and traveling between countries did the disease begin to spread more rapidly. Today, HIV has spread throughout the world. Official reporting is often inaccurate because of government denial, lack of testing, and many other factors. However, we do know that about 90% of global HIV infections occur in developing countries (Leone 10), and that the greatest number of AIDS cases are in Central Africa. To get an idea of just how large the epidemic has grown, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization estimated that over 30 million people worldwide were infected with HIV and 16,000 new infections were occurring every day. That was in 1997. (Begun 99)

Approximately two-thirds of people infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. (Begun 99) It is estimated that 1 out of every 40 adults in the region are infected. (Kurth 168) As of 1998, Botswana and Zimbabwe were the countries with the highest rates of infection, and it was estimated that 25% of all adults in these countries were infected. (Begun 104) Not only is the epidemic larger here than anywhere else in the world, but its characteristics are much different than in the industrialized world. For one thing, the disease is not limited to high-risk groups. Most HIV infections in Africa occur through heterosexual contact, which means that almost everyone in the general population is at risk. "Here the disease has bred a Darwinian perversion. Society's fittest, not its frailest, are the ones who die adults spirited away, leaving the old and the children behind." (McGeary 2) Another characteristic is that most people who are infected with HIV never know, and those that do know do not tell anyone for fear of being stigmatized by society. Even if they did know or could tell others, it wouldn't do much good in many areas of Africa, there is no treatment available. (McGeary 2)

One of the major causes of the AIDS epidemic in Africa is poverty. When people are so poor they have trouble feeding themselves and their children and keeping a roof over their heads, good health may be the farthest thing from their minds. Many Africans living in poverty have to worry about famine, violence, and other short-term illnesses and dangers, and these take precedence over the delayed risk of AIDS. (McGeary 3) Famine, usually a result of poverty, forces people's bodies to use all available energy just to perform the essential bodily functions of life, leaving no energy left for defense and therefore leaving

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• ...
• 14
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Controlling the AIDS epidemic in Africa?
We want to hear your view. Write now!