AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: Current Actions and Prevention

The outbreak of back up and human immunodeficiency computer virus has long been a health scourge plaguing the Sub-Saharan region of Africa. Millions of wad currently suffer from this disease, and the number of afflicted pot still continues to rise. With the AIDS virus continues to be incurable, it is dismiss that medicine alone can non provide Africa with enough relief or let up the growing percentages of people creation infected or born with the disease.The only way that Africa could possibly be rid of AIDS or at least have the fiesta of AIDS be halt is by means of limp measures rather than medicine. It is through education and aw atomic number 18ness rather than medicine that the Sub-Saharan African state will be able to stop the spread of human immunodeficiency virus and AIDS and in revision for education to be effective, diligence and cooperation be alike needed.Sub-Saharan Africa refers to the area of the continent located in or below the Sahara Desert. The cou ntries above this region are considered to be lot of the Arab world, while Sub-Saharan Africa is referred to as the black countries.These countries include Angola, Botswana, Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, southeastward Africa, Somalia, and Zimbabwe (Avert 2010). With Africa consisting of so some(prenominal) third-world nations in which education is considered a luxury that is operable to only a small percentage of the population, it is no wonder why human immunodeficiency virus has become such a widespread epidemic.Back in 2008, approximately 22.4 million children and adults were reported as aliveness with human immunodeficiency virus, and an estimated 1.4 million African people actually died from AIDS (Avert 2010). What is worse, is that to a greater extent than 14 million African children have lost at least one parent to AIDS, and many do not have any other living relatives.This is why there are so many children living in orphanages and many of them, unfortunately, were bo rn carrying the HIV virus. According to UNAIDS, a Joint United Nations Program for HIV and AIDS, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region close to heavily affected by HIV. In 2008, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 67% of HIV infections worldwide, 68% of new HIV infections among adults and 91% of new HIV infections among children.The region also accounted for 72% of the worlds AIDS-related deaths in 2008 (UNAIDS 2010). These statistics acquaint how extreme the HIV and AIDS situation is throughout the African continent. It is especially unfortunate how many children are infected with HIV at the time of their birth and are essentially sentenced to a life with the virus.If more and more people are being born as HIV carriers, then the spread of the virus will continue to grow at an exponential rate.When it comes to the African population that is infected with HIV and AIDS, the groups of people who are the most promising to become infected is highly disproportionate.There are more than tw ice as many women and girls who are carrying the virus than there are boys and men in West Africa alone and as a whole, females make up 60% of the infected population of sub-Saharan Africa. This imbalance is due to many social and cultural factors that negatively affect the female population. The UNAIDS group describes these statistics as suchWomens exposure to HIV in sub-Saharan Africa stems not only from their greater physiology susceptibility to hetero wakeual transmission, but also to the severe social, legal and economic disadvantages they often confront.A recent comprehensive epidemiological review in Lesotho shew that sexual and physical violence is a key determinant of the lands severe HIV epidemic. According to a recent survey, 47% of men and 40% of women in Lesotho say women have no rights to refuse sex with their husbands or boyfriends. (UNAIDS 2010)It is not only a lack of sensation and education that has attributed to the spread of HIV, but also the lack of fe male rights in certain sub-Saharan African countries. Rape statistics are relatively high, with both grown women and immature girls being the victims of these crimes.With relaxed laws failing to protect women from male sex offenders, it is clear why there are so many more women than men who become infected with HIV.The prevalence of female and child prostitution and sex trafficking also generates greatly to the spread of the virus. It is a combination of a lack of sex education, womens rights, and general undecomposedty that are causing the steady increase of the HIV-positive population along with spikes in the African mortality rates and these are all issues that medicine alone cannot address.South Africa is currently one of the most HIV-infested countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2009, approximately 5.7 million people were living with the HIV virus, with the majority of these people being female (Avert 2010). In order to combat these figures and the further spread of HIV, the South African Government launched a major counseling and testing campaign (HCT) in 2010.By raising knowingness of HIV the campaign aims to reduce the HIV incidence rate by 50% by June 2011 (Avert 2010). First, in front testing is now being declareed to pregnant women who have already tested positive for HIV in order to determine whether or not the virus has been passed on to their child.More significantly, are the measures the South African regime have taken in order to spread AIDS awareness. The government has funded everything from different from commercials, to door-to-door campaigning, to unrestricted speakers and free HIV tests. Many surveys have proven that these campaigns have been well-received by certain age groups.More than 75% of South African between the ages of 15-24 years old, for example, reported having seen at least one of the campaigns but the as age increases, the percentage of people who have heard messages of AIDS awareness tends to decline (Avert 2010).Th is is most likely due to the majority of these campaigns targeting individuals of the younger generations those who may not yet be sexually active, and those who are young enough to make early decisions that will protect them in the future.Although the awareness of HIV and AIDS has grown, people are not necessarily aware of how to prevent the virus from being transmitted and spread. The South African government has therefore been distributing hundreds of millions of male and female condoms among people, educating them on how to properly use this form of contraception and how condoms pop the question protection from sexually transmitted diseases.Studies show that condoms are mostly used by teenagers and young adults, which accounts for the moderate in the percentage of young people with HIV over the past few years. Overall, approximately 62% of people in South Africa habitually used condoms during sex in 2008, which is a dramatic improvement from the 27% figure back in 2002 (Avert 2010).As an additional form of HIV and AIDS prevention, clinics have begun to offer male circumcisions, as it was found that the procedure decreases ones chances of contracting the virus by 60%. It was estimated that a program with full coverage of male circumcision could prevent half a million infections and 100,000 deaths within a decade, with these figures rising in the decades to follow (Avert 2010).This shows how the South African government has targeted HIV from a preventative standpoint, focusing on younger generations and measures such as condoms and male circumcision in order to educate the country about the virus and how it can be spread.Along with attacking the AIDS epidemic by increasing awareness and education, Nigeria has also taken a stand against the spread of HIV by addressing the political problems behind it.As part of the UNAIDS group, the country has released a progress report summarizing the actions that the government has taken in regards to the virus. The Ni gerian government statesNigeria has formed the spherical Coalition of Woman and AIDS by establishing and inaugurating National Action for Women Coalition and AIDS NAWOCA addresses the vulnerability of girls, women and children through increase access to information and education on prevention, treatment, care and support for HIV and re cropive heath services. (UNAIDS 2010)This is a prime example of how HIV can be targeted from several directions that can all contribute to the future health of the African people. Nigeria has also increased its budget regarding HIV education, testing, and the funding of groups such as the NAWOCA in order to further their progress in decreasing the annual number of new infections.One important aspect of AIDS that should be recognized is that it is not only the disease itself that threatens the sub-Saharan African population. lot typically consider AIDS to be a product of infectious diseases when, in reality, it is also the product of risky behav ior (Green 2003 57).If people are having unprotected sex on a regular basis, for example, they are automatically putting themselves at risk of contracting HIV or any other sexually transmitted disease.Being more aware of what these diseases are will not necessarily prevent them from ever being infected educating them on how to alter their behavior and practice safe sex habits, however, will. Educating Africans about safe sex is just as important has teaching them about AIDS awareness or the dangers of the HIV virus but in Africa, this is not always an easy task.Many schools are still uneasy about discussing safe sex and diseases, because some believe the topic to be inappropriate. Some students also feel very uneasy when talking about this subject with adults or peers.Still, it is obvious that the benefits of safe sex education far outweighs the risks of not knowing about it at all. Rather than focusing on the so-called taboo nature of the topic and how uncomfortable some may feel , schools all over Africa must make a collaborative suit to be diligent and thorough in what they teach their students (Onyancha 2009 86).