Hiv / Aids : A Virus That Attacks One 's Immune System

Nearly three decades ago, there was an increase in deaths of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. Developing countries have experienced the greatest HIV/AIDS morbidity and mortality, with the highest prevalence rates recorded in young adults in sub-Saharan Africa. In South Africa over three million people are killed by this disease (Macfarlene3). After this epidemic spreaded in Africa and killed people it branched out to other countries in the world.

HIV is a viral disease that affects the immune system and is spread by sexual contact. HIV may also be passed from an HIV infected mother to her baby during pregnancy or breastfeeding. If HIV

For centuries, “AIDS has been spread through sexual contact and direct contact with bodily fluids such as blood, semean, and breast milk” (Disease background). Also, is spread through perinatal transmission which is when an AIDS-infected mother gives birth and passes the virus on to her child. The virus develops rapidly in the first few months affecting the immune system and preventing the body from fighting infections. The sex trade began to grow around the same time AIDS started to spread. Many say that, “most of the first AIDS cases were recorded in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1920, and by 1980 the disease was spreading in different parts of Africa” (Origin of HIV and AIDS).

In 2014, 1.2 million people died from HIV and its related causes. In the same year, about 36.9 million people were living with HIV. Among these, 2 million were newly infected in 2014. The rate of infection has reduced by 35% between the years of 2000 and 2015. Between the same years, mortality due to HIV fell by 24%. The area with the most HIV/AIDS victims is Sub-Saharan Africa. In this region, 25.8 million people were living with HIV in 2014. The region also has 70% of the newly infected victims in the world. It is very unfortunate that more than 50% of people with HIV know that they have it. HIV testing efforts have improved with 150 million in 129 low and middle income counties getting tested. It was reported in 2015 that 15.8 million people were receiving antiretroviral therapy (World Health Organization,

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS is a pandemic problem affecting global health. At the end of 2015, 36.7 million people were living with HIV/AIDS globally. The rate of incidence is more prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa with almost 1 in every 24 adults living with HIV/AIDS. In the united states, HIV/AIDS is a diversified health problem affecting all sexes, ages and races and involving the transmission of multiple risk behavior. However, with the introduction of various prevention programs and antiretroviral drugs, the incidence of HIV/AIDS has reduced.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region of the world that is most affected by HIV/AIDS. The United Nations reports that an estimated 25.4 million people are living with HIV and that approximately 3.1 million new infections occurred in 2004. To put these figures in context, more than 60 percent of the people living with the infection reside in Africa. Even these staggering figures do not quite capture the true extent and impact that this disease causes on the continent. In 1998, about 200,000 Africans died as a result of various wars taking place on the continent. In that same year, more than 2 million succumbed to HIV/AIDS (Botchwey, 2000).

Transmission of the HIV virus, as well as any other types of STDs, is a subject that needs to be discussed seriously and cautiously. There are many ways that one can acquire HIV/AIDS and it is very beneficial that every person is aware of the certain procedures to follow in order to avoid such an afflicting harm. The most common transmission of HIV is through sexual intercourse, where bodily fluids such as semen, vaginal secretions, or even blood are transferred from an HIV positive person to a non-infected person. AIDS is the deadliest sexually transmitted disease reaping about 13,700 deaths per year(Web, HIV in the US). There are approximately 36.9 million people living with the HIV virus, which is why more prevention techniques should be utilized across the globe.

HIV/AIDS is a devastating disease that has predominated in Africa due to the long incubation period of the virus, poverty, sexual promiscuousness, urbanization, trading routes, lack of knowledge, medical advances (use of needles, blood transfusion), and gender inequalities. Although the government denied the existence of HIV/ AIDS for many years, they have begun working towards various solutions such as the ABC (Abstinence, Be faithful, and Condom use) method and United States initiatives like PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). However, there is still more work to be done. Healthcare policies should further HIV prevention interventions, such as providing more access to testing, encouraging behavioral changes (e.g. condom use), and establishing programs that reach and empower women within a patriarchal society. Strengthening the African health system will ultimately reside in strong national leadership and governance in resource-limited settings to improve access and health outcomes for HIV/AIDS patients.

According to the article “HIV and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Overview”, 45 studies were done all across Sub-Saharan Africa. In which it was discovered that relationships among young women and older men are very common and linked with the practice of unprotected sex and very low condom use, which increases their risk of transmitting the disease (HIV and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Overview |AVERT). Although unprotected sex is very common all around the world, in Sub-Saharan Africa the rate of unprotected sex is much higher due to the lack of money and prevention methods given to the people.

According to Feldman and Miller, HIV is a virus that breaks down the immune system of the host it possesses (Feldman xxvi). AIDS is sometimes called full blown HIV, as it is believed to be a direct effect of HIV (Feldman xxviii). AIDS is more serious and causes more casualties, and when it develops to its fuller extent, there’s nearly nowhere to go but down. HIV can be spread by, needle sharing, breast-feeding, blood transfusions, vomit to an open wound, and organ transplants. In second and third world countries with limited resources, such as South Africa, these activities are not monitored or sanitized and the risk of attainting HIV/AIDS is high. By affecting over twelve percent of South Africa’s population since its first diagnosis in

The HIV Pandemic: The ongoing Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) pandemic has and continues to devastate many individuals across the globe, leaving children orphaned, families fractured, and local economies disrupted. The first known and confirmed case of HIV infection dates back to 1959 [1], however AIDS-related pathologies were not recognized as interrelated outcomes from the same disease until 1981 when clusters of young, homosexual men in New York City and Los Angeles began presenting with Pneumocystis pneumonia and Kaposi’s sarcoma [2,3], illnesses most often associated with compromised immunity. The causative agent of this immunodeficiency, initially known as Human T-Lymphotropic Virus, type III, now known as HIV, was first discovered in 1983 by French and American scientists [4,5]. Since this discovery, an estimated 39 million people have died from HIV/AIDS, and over 35 million people are living with HIV today with an estimated 2.1 million new infections believed to occur each year based on the most recent data from the World Health Organization (WHO) [6]. Sub-Saharan Africa represents the most heavily burdened region with women disproportionately affected; accounting for 58% of HIV infected individuals. Furthermore, young women, aged 15-24 from this area represented 60% of all newly infected individuals in 2013 [7]. Young women therefore represent a unique group at high risk for acquiring HIV, and reasons for this increased susceptibility require further

South Africa currently has the largest number of people in the world living with HIV/AIDS (avert.org, 2014). In the worldwide population, there are 37 million people with HIV and 25.8 million of those people live in Sub-Saharan Africa (AMFAR.org, 2015). This total is 70% of the total population diagnosed and 88% of the HIV population are children (amfAR.org, 2015). The Foundation for AIDS Research estimates that 1.4 million people were infected in 2014, and Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 66% of the AIDS mortality rate in 2014 (amfAR.org, 2015). Many political,

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a public health epidemic that affects millions of people around the world. As technology and medical advances have been made, many people affected by HIV in developed countries are able to sustain relatively normal lifestyles. Unfortunately, of the 36.9 million people living with HIV, 22 million still need to be reached with proper antiretroviral therapy treatment, preventative education, and supportive programs (UNAIDS, 2015). Most of the people that still need to be reached reside in developing countries and do not have the same means and resources to access to HIV prevention and treatment as those in developed countries. Many developing countries are dependent on outside sources to help educate,

“Southern Africa is the most affected region accounting for more than 70% of the global total of new infections” (WHO, 2012). As worrisome as these numbers are, researches have shown that HIV/AIDS disproportionately affect more women than men. “For every ten men infected, 13 women are HIV positive” (UNAID, 2013). This has additional implications for mother- child transmission which has been listed as one of the ways that the disease is spread. South Africa is still battling the remnants of racial discrimination that plagued the country’s recent history. This racial divide is evident in the trend of this disease as well. According to a recent UNAIDS report, “13.6% of black South Africans are HIV positive, whereas only 0.3% of whites living in South Africa has the disease” (UNAIDS, 2013).

The HIV/AIDS communicable disease is one of the common destructive health crises of modern era, ravaging families and communities around the globe. By 2006, more than 25 million people had died and as a minimum 35 million people were alive with HIV. A surprising 4.3 million people were recently infected with HIV in 2006. Approximately 63 percent of all people with HIV universal be alive in sub-Saharan Africa—25 million persons. While southern Africa has been hardest hit, other places also face grave AIDS epidemics. In current years, all over the country representative surveys have allowed researchers to lower before published HIV supremacy estimates for various countries. But the number of