AIDS+in+Africa

=AIDS in Africa=

Breastfeeding. It’s not normally viewed as a dangerous act, but for Rita, a woman living in South Africa, it was a death sentence. It began when her husband was acting sketchy after coming home for a couple of weeks. He refused to partake in sexual activities and was acting strange around his wife. Soon the couple was asked to come in for HIV tests. They both complied, but a few months later when they were called in for their results, he didn’t come. Rita was confused and wondering why her husband was acting this way. She ended up having to go to the appointment by herself. Sitting alone in the doctor’s office, she received the news she was HIV positive. Anguish and dread washed over her as she realized why her husband had come home: he was sick with HIV. Her mind raced back to when he had started acting this way, and terror gripped her as she realized she had continued to breast feed her daughter since the last time she and her husband had had sex. She finally knew why her daughter had become sick with serious pneumonia. With anger toward her husband and guilt for her daughter, Rita made a decision to work her hardest in her remaining years to give her daughter the best life possible. To this day she regrets breastfeeding her only child. Many people in Africa are still living in denial about the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Rita’s husband didn’t want to see his test results and didn’t want to tell his wife that he had HIV. This is the case with many Africans. In South Africa, people with AIDS are looked downed upon in society, sometimes even beaten or killed because of the monstrosity of the disease. The government didn’t admit until a few years ago that the disease even existed. Around the world people with HIV/AIDS are looked at as “dirty” or “tainted”. The cries of the AIDS pandemic have been suppressed in Africa and worldwide, and everyone needs to realize that the infected still need our help. user:Naomi13 Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease caused by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). HIV is spread by sexual contact with an infected person, by sharing needles or syringes with an infected person, to infants in an infected mother's womb, breastfeeding from an infected mother, or transfusions of infected blood. However, transmitting HIV through blood transfusions is rare because of the screening of HIV antibodies in the donor's blood. HIV belongs to a subset of retroviruses called "slow viruses" that causes an interval between the time of infection and the beginning of symptoms. This interval can sometimes last years, with the infected person not realizing he/she has the virus. The virus infects helper-T cells and begins to replicate quickly, destroying immune system cells.

To diagnose HIV, tests are given to look for antibodies in saliva, urine, or blood samples. The most accurate way to know if you are infected with HIV is by a blood test. The HIV antibody test can take from 20 minutes to 6 months to turn positive. Some symptoms of HIV are a fever that won't go away, sweating while you sleep, feeling tired all the time, feeling sick all the time, losing weight, and swollen lymph glands. Infected people in Africa are prone to have fungal infections, shortness of breath, severe malnutrition, tuberculosis, fever, and chronic diarrhea. AIDS is the last stage in an HIV infection. AIDS affects any of the body's major organ systems, including the liver, kidneys, and heart. Since the immune system cells have been destroyed, common infections and cancers called opportunistic infections develop. A healthy person with a strong immune system would be able to fight off these infections, but a person with AIDS is unable to battle them and soon dies. Unfortunately, in Sub-Saharan Africa living conditions are extremely poor and these opportunistic infections thrive. AIDS is usually diagnosed because an infected person has fallen ill and gone to the doctor for a check-up. There is no clear treatment for AIDS, however various treatments can be used to slow down or stop some cases of HIV. In the U.S, if you are diagnosed with AIDS, a doctor will give you a combination of drugs that prevent the growth of HIV. Different medications used are Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs), which help to slow down the spread of HIV to the rest of the body. Non-nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs) keep the enzyme from reproducing. Protease Inhibitors interrupt virus replication in later stages of life. Fusion Inhibitors prevent the virus from infecting healthy cells. These medications may be taken to slow HIV/AIDS from spreading to the body, but there is no cure for HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS treatment in Africa is not available to a majority of the public. The ARV (anti-retro viral program) is used to help slow down or cure AIDS. It is an anti-viral treatment program now being administered in Africa. Problems with the ARV program include long waiting lists, a shortage of health workers to administer the ARV program, and not all clinics offer the ARV program. With many people waiting for this program, there are not enough locations and doctors to administer it. Another program to help Africans with AIDS is the VCT (voluntary counseling and testing). The VCT, like the ARV program, is not as widespread as it should be. To prevent AIDS you should use latex condoms whenever you have any type of sex. Also, use water-based lubricants, do not share needles, and practice abstinence. Infected women should refrain from getting pregnant. HIV campaigns are used to hand out condoms in Africa and warn people about how it is spread and prevented. Medical treatment in Africa is possible. The process of preventing and curing AIDS is currently not efficient enough to stop the AIDS epidemic. Scientists are conducting research to find a cure for AIDS, but nothing has been discovered. -  [|babygonzo_24] To find the best way to help those with HIV/AIDS, people need to know where it originated. There is evidence that HIV/AIDS began in Africa. A 10 year study that finished in 2005, showed that there was a virus called Simian Immunodeficiency Virus in a large number of chimpanzees in colonies in Cameroon, Africa. SIV is related to HIV, which leads to AIDS. Notes and models tell us that the first transfer of HIV happened around 1930, with SIV changing into HIV in a species called Green Monkeys (a specific species of monkey) sometime during the 1940s. Studies of primates in other countries did not show traces of SIV, therefore the conclusion was made that HIV began in Africa. The early cases of AIDS began the 1960s in Africa. Experts believe that about 2,000 people in Africa were infected with HIV by the 1960's. Stored blood samples from American malaria research projects in 1959 (based in Africa) produced early samples of HIV infections. It was the 1970's in Kinshasa that the first link to an HIV/AIDS epidemic began. The epidemic in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo was caused by "opportunistic infections." Doctors believed the diseases were cryptococcal meningitis, tuberculosis, or pneumonia. Scientists believe that HIV was brought to the Conga by a traveler from the Cameroon by river. After arriving the virus spread quickly through the "sex network." The first HIV epidemic had begun. Though people probably had HIV beginning in the 1960s to 1970s, the numbers did not reach to epidemic levels until the 1980's. Once HIV started to become an epidemic in Africa, it began spreading in West Africa as well, especially near Lake Victoria. The main reason why the disease spread so quickly is because of the ratio of men to women, the low status of women, and the high amount of STD's. People were uneducated about what was happening. The other problem was there were "sex workers." The sex workers, or prostitutes, spread the disease rapidly. A study in 1986 showed that 85% of sex workers were infected. Uganda was hit by the disease hard in the late 1980s. They called it the "Slim Disease,” but the doctors knew that it was AIDS because of similar symptoms occurring to infected people in the US. After realizing the connection between AIDS and the "Slim Disease," the doctors recorded the risk factors, patterns, and prevalence of HIV. By the end of the 80's over 30% of pregnant women were HIV +. In the 1980's, 35% of truck drivers were positive and 30% of the Ugandan army was positive. The epidemic soon spread to Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. By the end of the 1980's South Africa began to have a high percentage of HIV+ people and were beginning to overtake the records made in East Africa. Since there was no cure for AIDS, the people had to focus on prevention of the spread of AIDS. Prevention included practicing abstinence from sex, being true to their partner, and using condoms. For this reason the religious people of Africa supported fighting AIDS avidly. In 1986, after the civil war ended, the government finally acknowledged the epidemic. However, by that time over 26% of their capital city was HIV+. Many people were afraid to admit that AIDS was an epidemic in Africa and were afraid to admit that they had it. People were put to shame if they found out they had HIV/AIDS. They often lost their jobs, friends and family. The infected were often ostracized. For this reason it was significant that in 1987 President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, a respected African leader, announced to the world that his son, Masuzyo, had died of AIDS. It proved that the civilians weren’t the only ones suffering from the epidemic. It is estimated that since the beginning of the epidemic more than 15 million Africans have died from AIDS, which is equivalent to the combined populations of London and New York. It’s almost impossible to realize the loss of population, friends and family. Now the people of the world are funding and researching to find a cure to AIDS, hoping to stop the epidemic outbreaks. -  [|kipani00tiffany]

AIDS has hit Africa's society hard. If one person in a family gets AIDS, it affects the whole family. They lose money by losing income earners who either become infected by the disease or have to become caretakers for their infected loved ones. Unfortunately, the part of society that is most affected by the AIDS epidemic is also the poorest. This group is unclean; people live in decrepit huts with dirt floors and unsanitary lavatories. More than one billion people do not have access to clean water. They also don't have money for health care. The consequences are most severe for those with AIDS and this part of society is the most effected. Households fall apart after being hit with AIDS. Parents die and leave their children to fend for themselves or send them to live with other relatives. A study in South Africa showed that if a parent died, the household was most likely to disintegrate than a household with living parents. The AIDS epidemic takes away income, assets and lives. When you already live in a poor society, these things are very valuable, and losing them only makes things worse. AIDS hasn't only affected households in general, but it also affects the children. If a family member becomes ill with AIDS, sometimes they become so weak that the children are required to take care of them. It's a full time job. They put their education at risk by dropping out of school. When a parent dies, most of the time the children become orphans. The AIDS epidemic is responsible for leaving a vast number of children without parents. More than 12 million kids have become orphans due to AIDS in Africa. 9% of the 12 million have lost a parent to AIDS. It is predicted that by 2010 that there will be about 15.7 million AIDS orphans in Africa alone. The orphans in Africa count for over half of the orphans world-wide. On top of parents having AIDS, a child dies every three seconds from AIDS and extreme poverty, often before their fifth birthday. Three-quarters of all Africans with AIDS between the ages of 15 - 24 are women. Women are more susceptible and vulnerable to the virus, especially when they put themselves up for prostitution. That is 75% of the population. UNAIDS Deputy Director Kathleen Cravero told // Africa Renewal, " //We're actually looking at young women becoming almost an endangered species in Africa due to this epidemic." A female’s body is more likely to get infected with HIV than a male’s. Women make up an increasing portion of people living with HIV/AIDS, not just in Africa but world-wide. It’s the woman's jobs to take care of her sick family members. This means if a family is in need of money (as most families are) some women of the family turn to prostitution, which puts them at a higher risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. AIDS has had a huge impact on households, but a bigger impact on the economy. AIDS has reduced labor supply because of the increasing amount of people getting affected with AIDS. The government’s income decreases but their spending increases, causing a decline in the value of their money. Also, because of the AIDS epidemic, many countries won't trade with Africa because they don't have a way to produce a lot of goods. Therefore, AIDS threatens the foundations of economic development in Africa. -  [|gossip007]  The battle of living with AIDS in Africa isn't just about whether or not you will survive from the disease. South Africa contains some of the highest statistics for HIV/AIDS. For many people living in there, having AIDS is like being imprinted with a sign that says, "Shun me." If you are living with AIDS in South Africa you are looked down upon as dirty, tainted, or unclean. AIDS used to be seen as a "disease of the poor," partly because it was not recognized as an illness by the government for a long time. AIDS is a death sentence in multiple aspects. For example, a South African AIDS activist named Gugu Dlamini was beaten to death by her neighbors on World AIDS Day after declaring that she was HIV-positive. If it's not the disease that harms you, someone else might. People in South Africa who are diagnosed with HIV or AIDS often lose their friends, family, homes, and jobs, simply because they are seen as worthless. A study in 2002 said that only one-third of people who tell others that they are HIV-positive are supported by society. American Senator Jesse Helms said that people with AIDS participate in "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct," (July 5, 1995) because the HIV virus was normally transmitted through sex, and apparently Helms considers sex something to be frowned upon. Many people with AIDS have actually gotten it from blood transfusions or through their mother's womb. Africa is a ruthless place for a person with AIDS. There have also been many questions as to whether the South African government is doing enough for the epidemic. In the years 1993-2000, the AIDS epidemic grew out of control because of major political changes occurring in South Africa. These changes mainly involved an interim constitution being formed to end the three centuries of white rule and white-minority rule in South Africa. Apartheid (legalized racial segregation by the National Party South African Government) was finally eliminated, and a new constitution was approved in May, 1996. This made the base for a new, stronger government in South Africa. However, during these reformations, the AIDS epidemic went unchecked. The number of people infected with HIV spiked, and currently the number of infected adults is 1 in 5. The political changes made were positive, but so were the HIV tests of thousands of South Africans. The government's response to treating HIV-positive people was very hesitant and delayed. Antiretrovial drug distribution only began in 2004, years behind other nations. By the end of 2006, only about 33% of infected people had recieved treatment. The government has also been reluctant in giving drugs to HIV-positive mothers to prevent them from passing the virus into the womb. This overall slow response to AIDS treatment options went hand-in-hand with President Mbeki's (the president of SA) doubt on whether HIV really causes AIDS. His health administrator also voiced that it was better to approach HIV with nutritional remedies rather than medicinal ones. The government has since created abstinence programs that promote safe sex and the use of condoms. This shows that they are recognizing the AIDS epidemic and are taking steps to reduce the number of infected people in their country. However, even though the government in the past has tried to oppress the fact that AIDS is a serious problem, President Mbeki has finally begun to recognize it. In a declaration of partnership against AIDS in 1998, Mbeki said, "HIV/AIDS is among us. It is real. It is spreading. We can only win against HIV/AIDS if we join hands to save our nation." He has begun to turn around the denial of the country in its fight to end AIDS. In 2000 the president increased the budget on the HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections Strategic Plan, which is supposed to help prevent AIDS and give more funding to treatment and care for those with AIDS. Mbeki also launched the Partnership Against AIDS, which partners with other AIDS-infected countries in caring for the infected and researching for a cure. He has allowed the government to begin awareness programs throughout the country and help people learn more about HIV/AIDS. Mbeki actually incorporated HIV/AIDS information into South African schools' curriculum at the end of 2003. Cost has been another issue for South Africa in it's struggle to obtain treatment for AIDS. Recently an American drug company who had been fighting with SA about the price of their medicines lowered the cost, but only slightly. This cost change still wasn't cheap enough for South Africans to afford. SA is an incredibly poor country without the resources to purchase large amounts of antiretroviral drugs, especially when over 1,500 new HIV cases are reported every day. Even if the country was able to purchase the drugs for every citizen with HIV or AIDS, the drugs wouldn't be processed and shipped there fast enough, and the virus may have already mutated to another untreatable form. South Africa is behind in many aspects, including technology and research development. They need help. Their government is finally beginning to turn around and make better choices, but not fast enough considering the multitudes that are dying each day from AIDS-related opportunistic infections (infections acquired through a weakened immune system, eg. tuberculosis). To diminish South Africa's isolation from the rest of the world and by helping them gain access to treatment would mean a breakthrough in reducing the number of global HIV/AIDS cases. Introduction of current treatment would open doors for the rest of Africa, and underdeveloped countries throughout the world. -  [|Naomi13] However, the problems associated with the AIDS epidemic do not only exist in Africa. The disease is spreading from country to country at a rapid pace. Even though the AIDS crisis has dispersed to countries such as the United States, Europe and Australia, it is a much more critical issue in Africa. Africa contained an estimated 25.4 million adults and children who were living with AIDS at the end of 2005. During that year, 2 million people died from AIDS in Africa alone, and 12 million African children were left orphaned. In the United States, numbers were still high, but not nearly as great as those in Africa. As of April 7, 2008, there were 1 million people living with AIDS in the United States. Many didn't even know they were infected with the disease. A main reason people did not know they had AIDS was fear of discrimination from their community. They were concerned that they would be looked down upon, so they did not go to get tested for the disease. AIDS can affect all members of the society: women, children, men, young, old, and the weak and poor. However, the most susceptible people to the disease in the United States are sexually active homosexual men and intravenous drug users. Statistics for the different ethnic groups infected with AIDS in the U.S. vary greatly. As of the year 2005, 29% of the white/non-Hispanic population was diagnosed with some form of AIDS. On top of that, 50% of the African American population was infected, 19% of Latinos(as), and 1% of both Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaska Native. In Australia at the end of 2006, an estimated 15,670 people were living with AIDS. However, at the end of June 2007, there were 10,097 known cases of AIDS. Across the globe in Europe, AIDS was beginning to spread rapidly across the Eastern portion of the continent and continuing to ascend in the Western portion in February 2004. This was believed to be because integrated prevention and treatment programs were discontinued or did not exist in the first place. At the end of December 2006, there were 327,068 people in Europe diagnosed with AIDS. As of February 7, 2008, it was stated that half of these infected people had already died. The living conditions in these four locations go to major extremes with Europe, the US, and Australia at the high end and Africa down at the bottom. The dreadfully unhealthy state that the people in Africa are living in is a serious issue. The AIDS epidemic is robbing the African people of the little money they have, which results in desperate living conditions. Families live in little shacks with very limited space. More often than not they all share one room. Since a lot of infected people do not know they have the disease, they continue to live in their homes and infect everything around them. Households begin to fall apart when a family member has AIDS, especially if it is the adult that is infected in the family. Children quit going to school to try to keep the family together, and mothers often turn to prostitution to bring in income. On top of the housing issue, AIDS victims have a scarce food supply to nourish their bodies and make them stronger. They also do not have proper sanitation systems or running water, which causes their bodies to become less tolerant to diseases. People are forced to forage for food and clean water wherever they can find it. The epidemic has brought the production of food to a halt because so many laborers have been infected. AIDS does not affect the people in the United States as drastically as those in Africa. The majority of the people who are infected with AIDS in America are those who live in poor communities and do not have proper health care. Otherwise, most people who have a steady income are able to treat the disease with the health care and money they have. In Europe, the majority of the population is made up of elderly people. Here, most of the deaths are either natural or caused by other medical illnesses. The situation in Australia is similar to Europe’s. AIDS is not as serious in these countries as it is in Africa. In all of these countries, patients infected with AIDS are being treated with antiretroviral drugs. These drugs are not a cure, because one has not yet been discovered, but they do help to slow the advancement from HIV to AIDS. Antiretroviral drugs must be taken everyday for the rest of the person's life, and can have very unpleasant side effects. In poverty stricken countries such as Africa, it can sometimes be very hard to supply AIDS victims with the proper medications they need. AIDS treatment costs over 15,000 dollars per person, per year. Recently, activist and pharmaceutical companies forced the big organizations to lower the price to as low as 350 dollars per person. Still, for such a poor country like Africa, it is difficult to come up with that kind of money. -  [|carrotcake] <span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153)"> <span style="background: yellow none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial"> The AIDS epidemic is still a problem throughout the world today, even if it isn’t front page news anymore. People are still being infected and dying every day. Children are still becoming homeless because their families can’t afford to keep them or their entire family has died. AIDS may be mainly concentrated in Africa, but it’s a worldwide pandemic. The disease does not only affect the people's health, but it changes the global economy and politics. Africa cannot produce the amount of goods that it is capable of because many of its workers are sick with HIV/AIDS. This causes other countries to not buy goods from Africa, which causes their economies to worsen. AIDS is a worldwide issue, and people are still uninformed. However, there is hope with abstinence programs throughout Africa, and modern medicine is providing better treatments each and every day. AIDS jeopardizes the world's health, and we need to do everything in our power to help eliminate it.

**Editorial**
This project has really helped to open our eyes and inform us of the AIDS epidemic going on in Africa right now. It was absolutely shocking to find out how the statistics of people infected with AIDS in the United States, Australia, and Europe compare with those of Africa. They are not even close. In Africa alone, there were 25.4 million people both young and old at the end of the year in 2005 who were infected with the disease. The epidemic is just continuing to become bigger and these statistics will only become greater each year.

Families are being torn apart from the AIDS epidemic in Africa. More than 12 million kids are orphaned as a result of AIDS. Children all over Africa are forced to grow up early, taking care of their dying parents. No child should be responsible for their parents at such a young age. Not only are parents infected, it is spread to their children, and as a result every three seconds a child dies from AIDS.

Drug treatment in Africa is not available to every one. The majority of AIDS victims are from the poorer families in Africa. The antiretroviral treatment program costs $350 dollars per person, which is quite a chunk of change for a poor family. How can we expect that everyone with AIDS in Africa is going to be able to afford $350 to help slow the advancement of AIDS? A new program needs to be established that allows people to go to a clinic and start the antiretroviral program for a lower price.

The world needs to work together to come up with a cure for AIDS, and money needs to be invested in order to discover a vaccine. Until then, people are going to keep dying, children are going to become orphaned, and more people will be infected with AIDS. The poorer families, such as ones in Africa, need our support and help more than anything right now.

=**Action: Bethany, Elise and Sienna**=

=
Seithati is a six year old girl who loves to draw and play with dolls. She is living with her relatives and one brother because her parents are infected with AIDS. At the moment she isn't able to go to school because she has to stay home and help the family with chores such as carrying water.Seithati lives in a community in South Africa that is severely affected with HIV/AIDS. For our action, our group chose to sponsor Seithati. We will be donating 35 dollars a month to an organization called World Vision. World Vision is a Christian relief developmental program whose focus is to provide support to poverty stricken countries, and especially the children in those communities. World Vision provides aid to six continents, and is one of the biggest Christian relief developmental programs in the world. Through our monthly donation,Seithati will be able to receive education, clean water and nutritious food, health care (including AIDS prevention), AIDS counseling and care for her sick parents. We chose this as our action because giving back to others who are less fortunate than you is very fulfilling, and being able to communicate with Seithati and see her grow is all the more exciting! Our wish is to bring hope to Seithati's future, and prevent the AIDS statistics in South Africa from becoming one greater.user:carrotcake=====

=Action: Naomi and Tiffany= After doing a lot of research and contacting many different organizations, Tiffany and I discovered a reliable and worthy charity to donate money to. It is a British-based foundation called SOS Children's Villages. It's an organization focused on providing food, medicine, and care to children orphaned by AIDS. Caregivers visit these children a few times a week and provide necessities as well as love for each child. SOS is also deeply involved in HIV/AIDS prevention. They travel from village to village to spread awareness, make HIV testing available to everyone, and encourage prevention of unprotected sex, especially in women. SOS helps within sick households, aiding children in taking care of their parents and making sure the ill parents are getting treatment. SOS is involved in many different areas of the AIDS struggle. They are a well-rounded organization that doesn't just focus on helping the children, but also their parents, schools, and communities. We thought they were a worthy charity to donate to, so we did some more research and contacted their US branch. We soon received a response, and created our SOS coffee cans to collect people's change in. We brought the cans to our school, and almost immediately began triggering a response from our peers. We have raised a large sum of money that we are going to donate to SOS, and we have helped to raise awareness of the AIDS crisis in our community. user:Naomi13 = = = = = = = =

Works Cited "Aegis-Ap." __Aegis__. 1995. <www.aegis.org>. "Africa: Women and AIDS."__Africa Action__. [|www.africaaction.org]. "Africa: Women and AIDS." __Africa Action__. <www.africaaction.org>. "AIDS Treatment in Africa." __SCN__. <www.scn.org>. Bollinger, Lori, and John Stover. "The Economical Impact of AIDS in Africa." __The Policy Project__. Sept. 1991. RTI. <www.policyproject.com>. "History of AIDS." __Torrencepa__. <www.torrencepa_2.tripod.com>. "HIV/AIDS." __CDC__. 7 Nov. 2007. <www.cdc.gov>. "HIV/AIDS in South Africa." __South Africa__. <www.southafrica.info>. "HIV/AIDS." __World Vision Austrailia__. 6 Aug. 2007. <www.worldvision.com.au>. "HIV/AIDS." __World Vision Austrailia__. 6 Aug. 2007. <www.worldvision.com.au>. "HIV." __HIV__. 2008. <www.hiv.com>. "Impact." __BMJ__. <bmj.bmjjournals.com>. "Oppurtunistic Infections." __Wikipedia__. 25 May 2008. <www.wikipedia.com>. Pembry, Graham. "HIV and AIDS in South Africa." __Avert__. 19 May 2008. <www.avert.org>. Rita. "HIV/AIDS Related Personal Stories From Africa." __Avert__. <www.avert.org>. "South Africa: History." __InfoPlease__. 2008. <www.infoplease.com>. "South Africa Under Apartheid." __Wikipedia__. <www.wikipedia.com>. "What is AIDS?" __Avert__. 14 May 2008. <www.avert.org>. Whiteside, Alan. "Impact on AIDS on Devolpment in Africa." __Science in Africa__. 2002. <www.scienceinafrica.co.za>. Zaccagnini, Marta. "History of Aids in Africa." __Avert__. 19 May 2008. <www.avert.org>.