Hiv/Aids Pandemic in Liberia

HIV/AIDS is acquired when there is an unprotected sexual intercourse, exposure to infected blood or body fluids, sharing of needles or syringes with an infected person and from mother to child through breast feeding or vaginal birth. The most prevalent places are the urban cites in the U.S. As discussed earlier, the population at risk for the infection are gay and bisexuals, IV drug users and heterosexuals. Within the first two weeks of acquiring HIV infection, the infected person develops fever usually 100.4degrees, fatigue, sore throat, headache, muscle and joint pains. This normally resolves itself without any intervention. Some people might also develop a digestive and respiratory problem such as nausea &vomiting and dry cough. If untreated, it can result in low TCD4 lymphocyte count below 200 resulting in AIDS. Statistically, from the national level, the most prevalent states in the U.S in

An upsetting pattern has risen inside of the previous couple of years, demonstrating a relentless increment of ladies being contaminated with HIV/AIDS every year. This pattern is particularly conspicuous in sub-Saharan Africa. While the illness is contaminating more ladies than any other time in recent memory and now represents about portion of those living with HIV around

“Everyday the HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to kill three times as many people than died during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001” (Elbe 2006, p.119). The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) weakens the immune system by destroying the cells that fight disease and infection. In the final stages of the HIV infection, it can lead to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Not all people who are diagnosed with HIV progress to acquiring AIDS, although once you have been diagnosed with the HIV infection, you have it for life. HIV/AIDS have claimed the lives of more than 39 million people globally since the discovery (World Health Organisation 2014) with a majority of these cases being in sub-Saharan Africa.

In the sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of the population suffers from HIV leading to AIDS. The culprits responsible for this epidemic include the lack of knowledge about the disease, disuse of condoms due to religious practices and the overall poor hygiene. If left untreated, the rampant surge of AIDS can terrribly impact the cost of their healthcare, the African economy and the welfare of the people. This implications justify immediately finding remedies to what ails the sub-Saharan population.

Although HIV is no longer the automatic death sentence it was in the 80’s, it remains a thorn even in our modern societies. For instance, HIV treatment is exponentially expensive, and can only be afforded by residents in developed countries. In fact, most third world nations are still in the 80’s as far as HIV treatment technology is concerned. Fatality rates particularly in Africa are astronomical to say the least (Rensburg 267). With prices, for

When it comes to HIV/AIDS, it is still today regarded as the most critical epidemic that affects a significant number of people in the world’s population. HIV statistics for the end of 2013 indicate that around 35 million people are currently living with HIV worldwide, 38 percent less than in 2001. In the same year, around 2.1 million people became infected with HIV and 1.5 million died of AIDS-related illnesses. HIV and AIDS are found in all parts of the world, however some areas are more affected than others (“Global HIV & AIDS Epidemic,” 2014).

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.

In The Invisible Cure, Helen Epstein talks about why HIV/AIDS rate is so high in Africa compared to the rest of the world. Through the book, she gives us an account of the disease and the struggles that many health experts and ordinary Africans went through to understand this disease, and how different African countries approached the same problem differently. Through this paper, I will first address the different ways Uganda and Southern African countries, South Africa and Botswana in particular, dealt with this epidemic, and then explain how we can use what we have learned from these African countries to control outbreaks of communicable disease elsewhere around the world.

Did you know “AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa” (Quinn, online). Twenty percent of Africa’s population has died from AIDS. Poverty is a big problem in Africa. Men have been forced to become migrant workers in urban areas. And antiretroviral treatment at this time is not available to African people. AIDS is a big problem in Africa today that is now requiring help from the world.

Africa has a history of facing many challenges, including starvation, poverty, Ebola and AIDS. AIDS, however, has become Africa’s biggest hurdle. Botswana, located in Southern Africa, has been hit the hardest by the AIDS virus with over 23% of its population contracting AIDS. In order to help fix the AIDS epidemic in Botswana, multiple things need to be reviewed, such as understanding how AIDS spread throughout Botswana, where the region currently stands on the AIDS virus, and the three solutions on how to prevent the rise in the spreading of the virus within the area. According to the website Avert, studies have shown that the most effective ways to help stop the spread of AIDS includes testing centers, intervention centers, and the distribution of more protective measures.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa appears to be gradually slowing down in Liberia, and the spread of preventative education in that region has been instrumental in the positive change. Some of this education has come in the form of government-commissioned music about the disease, but unfortunately, those efforts were seeing the wrong kind of impact for some time. Now, Liberian DJs and musicians have been raising awareness by taking a different approach.

Since its identification approximately two decades ago, HIV has increasingly spread globally, surpassing expectations (1). The number of people living with HIV worldwide is estimated to be 36 million, with 20 million people having died from the disease, giving a total number of 56 million being infected (1). In 2000 alone, 5.3 million people were infected with HIV and there is potential for further spread. HIV infection rates vary all over the world with the highest rates in Sub-Saharan Africa (1). Responding to this epidemic has been a challenge as infection rates have increased worldwide despite tremendous public health efforts by nations (1). The identification of potential interventions to reduce the magnitude of the problem has

In this study, I will try to discover why this epidemic has run out of control, especially among African Americans, in the United States which has continued to rise, reaching more than 160,000 by the end of 1990 (CDC, 1994). And through December 2000, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has received reports of 774,467 AIDS cases, of those, 292,522 cases occurred among African Americans (CDC, 2000).

HIV is an epidemic that is present worldwide, the disease is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa for the most part. In context, of the estimated thirty-four million cases of HIV in 2008, twenty-two to twenty-three cases were in sub-Saharan Africa. On the contrary, 1.4 million people are infected with HIV in North America. (Sigall K. Bell, MD, 2011, p. 38). Further, the sum of global infections approximately two million are under fifteen of age. Approximately 50,000 cases a year are in the United States due to the lack of prevention, which then leads to overall prevention. Potential causes of the spreading of HIV are non-effective educational messages along with the high-risk sexual behavior. Also, this just calls for increasing chances of acquiring

In my studies I have found that HIV/AIDS is one of the largest growing epidemics among African American’s. Along with the stigmas individuals have to face, there lay the unspoken thought process of “It wouldn’t or couldn’t happen to me”. Poverty, severe drug abuse, unprotected sex, and lack of education are just a few contributing factors to the growing numbers related to this infectious disease among the African American communities. When you add all these factors into one community the results is just that of the soaring number of individual infected from young to old.