Human Immunodeficiency Virus : Is It Made Up Of Over 190 Countries

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.

In 2014, this region had approximately 1.4 million new cases of HIV while 790,000 died of the infection. The Asian-Pacific area has less number of victims with HIV/AIDS (five million in 2014). The new infections that year were 340,000 with China, Indonesia, and India claiming 78% of the new infections in the region. The number of deaths caused by HIV was 240,000 which is an increase by 11% since the year 2000. The reason for the increase is lack of access to antiretroviral therapy. There is better news in Latin America: 1.7 million people are living with HIV. In 2014, there were 87,000 new infections and 41,000 deaths in that region. Western and Central Europe and North America region had 2.4 million HIV victims with an estimated 85,000 new diagnoses. The number of deaths was 26,000. Eastern Europe claimed 1.5 million victims, 140,000 newly diagnosed, and 62,000 deaths due to HIV related causes. The Caribbean region had 280,000 victims in 2014. Thirteen thousand were newly diagnosed and the region lost 8800 victims. In the same year, the Middle East and North Africa region had 240,000 people living with HIV, 22000 new infections, and 12,000 deaths (Joint United Nations Programmed on HIV and AIDS,

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

On the other hand, HIV, which stands for human immunodeficiency virus, is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, which has 62% of the world’s HIV cases. Because sub-Saharan Africa is home to 70% of the poorest people in the world, people lack the skills and the money they need to survive. Therefore, the only way they can get their basic needs is the risky behavior. For example, women have to engage in sexual transactions for commercial

During past 30 years, the rate of infected people in Uganda and Zimbabwe. In Asia, Thailand’s rate was so high. A few years later, the rate of South Africa started to increase. The rate of Uganda and Zimbabwe started to decrease. Nowadays, we are in the plateau of HIV. It does not mean that it will be better; mean it is not the worst. In present, 1% of whole people is infected person, and it is same with the number of people in California.

During the course of history there has been many pandemics and epidemics, which have threatened human existence. Various threats such as smallpox, the black plague, measles and influenza can be dated back as early as the 1300’s. Now there is a similar threat, Human Immune deficiency virus (HIV) and Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The severity of the HIV and AIDS pandemic has affected at least 36.7 million people and at least 1.1 million people have died from AIDS in the United States and beyond. Human immune deficiency virus (HIV) is a disease that causes an attack on the body’s immune system. HIV once classified as an epidemic but as of 2014 it was shifted to a global pandemic due to its effect on the global population. Rates of

At the end of 2009, an estimated 33.3 million people globally were living with HIV. In that year alone, there were an estimated 1.8 million AIDS-related deaths and 2.6 million new HIV infections. Data from 2009 shows that the AIDS epidemic is beginning to change course as the number of people newly infected with HIV is declining and AIDS –related deaths are decreasing. This is in large part due to more people living longer as access to antiretroviral theraphy increases, but these gains remain fragile and disparities continue to exist among countries and within countries. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region most affected with 69% of all new infections and in seven mostly Eastern European and Central Asian countries, new HIV infection rates have increased by 25%.

In 2009 an estimated 33.2 million human beings were unfortunate enough to be infected with AIDS or HIV. A hefty 22.4 million of those individuals live in where the story of humanity began, Sub-Saharan Africa. The good-fortuned United States on the other end of the spectrum ,is home to 1.2 million infected. The statistics for the amount of infected in the U.S. is almost negligible in comparison to those of Africa’s ,because of the obvious difference in amount of infected ,but also in the amount of power the disease has in the confines of each spatial variation. In the growing quest for equality amongst all humanity it is a necessity to understand why Africans are bearing the statistical load and why the number of infected grow in amongst

Just about two decades ago, HIV/AIDS pandemic was the only thing that is mentioned in social media (Gus “Introduction to HIV/AIDS”). Proved to be originally from Sub Saharan Africa (S.S Africa) region, HIV/AIDS has spread throughout not only the S.S. Africa, but it eventually becomes the global disaster in the late 20th century (Gus). HIV/AIDS has gained attention from the media when the death many patients by the new emerging disease is reported in Europe and US (Satpathy 27). However, these cases directly refer to S.S. Africa because infected patients either are originally from or have travelled around this region (Satpathy 28). In addition, out of 1000 blood samples result taken in Kinshasa in 1970s, scientists have found HIV positive among these blood sample (Satpathy 28). This means that HIV/AIDS have been circulating around this region for at least 10 to 12 years since HIV is an asymptomatic disease (Satpathy 41). However, the HIV/AIDS only becomes an epidemic in S.S. Africa around the late 20th century, shown in statistics that are taken from UNAIDS: Progress Report 1996-1997. Many people blame the poverty in S.S.Africa as the cause for letting this deadly disease out of control. Others criticize the African government for avoiding the responsibility of suppressing this epidemic. Certainly, in order to prevent a further pandemic, we need to study the actual explanation of this epidemic. This arises the question: Why did HIV/AIDS become an epidemic in the late 20th

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV) is the causative agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is characterized by a severely compromised immune system and the occurrence of life-threatening opportunistic infections. The first cases of AIDS were documented in 1981 and the isolation of HIV from a patient was described two years later.1,2 Since then, HIV/AIDS has evolved into a global pandemic. According to a report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS published in 2016, over 36.7 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide and 1.1 million HIV/AIDS-related deaths as well as 2.1 million new infections occur annually.3 Due to major efforts to raise HIV/AIDS awareness and prevent new infections, the annual number of new infections is slowly decreasing in many regions of the world, including Western and Southern Africa.3 However, infection rates have remained relatively constant in North America in recent years and have increased by over 50% in other regions, such as Eastern Europe and Central Asia.3 Despite major advances in biomedical research, a vaccine or a cure remains elusive.

HIV/AIDS brings about hunger indirectly first through the economy. It is normal to have more than one sexual partner at a time in most sub-Saharan countries and this creates a “HIV super highway”. In fact, seventeen percent of the health-care workers in sub-Saharan Africa died from AIDS since 2005, and this is a lot considering only 480 people out of 48,000,000 people work in health-care in Tanzania. To detect HIV, physicians use a CD4 test, which uses expensive equipment, electricity, and trained technicians. Even after detection, the ARVs are too expensive to stay on for two long. If ARV resistance does occur, more expensive second-line therapy may be necessary. Even Peter Piot, the director of an AIDS prevention program, said “Projections now suggest that some countries in sub-Saharan Africa will face economic collapse unless they bring their epidemics under control”. Tanzanians, who do get treatment, hardly have enough money to buy food for a week, and with an average of five kids per family, most will starve.

HIV/AIDs are persistent killers in many developing countries. In 2007, Liberia had a population of

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) weakens the immune system and makes people vulnerable to infections and some types of cancer (HIV/AIDS, 2016). HIV various vague symptoms that are flu like. These symptoms are vague and can last from a few days to several weeks. HIV is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) from one person to another via the mucus membranes (About HIV/AIDS, 2016). HIV can lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) if undiagnosed or untreated. There is no cure for HIV or AIDS. Depending on the individual, HIV can take from two to fifteen years to develop into AIDS. Thirty-five million people have lost their lives to HIV, making this a global health issue (HIV/AIDS, 2016). In the United States, approximately 1.2 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2012. Approximately 13% were unaware that they were infected. HIV has decreased 19% in the US between 2005 to 2014 (About HIV/AIDS, 2016). There are many factors that contribute to HIV, including, the epidemiologic triangle, community nurses assisting in the reduction of HIV, national and world organizations that address HIV with the goal of reducing the spread of HIV.

Africa is arguably the poorest continent in the world as shown by statistics from World Health Organization, United Nation Children’s Fund and the World Bank. Growing up in Africa, I have been a first- hand witness to abject poverty which I believe is interconnected to illiteracy, higher infant and maternal mortality rates, life expectancy and the continuous presence of diseases. Even though Southern Africa has made some strides addressing some of these issues, the country’s inability to combat one of the deadliest diseases in the world, HIV/AIDS, remains a prominent public health concern. “The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) targets the immune system and weakens people’s

Therefore, the question of interest in this paper is why are the rates of HIV-AIDS suddenly increasing in Uganda? According to the 2011 AIDS Indicator survey, the HIV-AIDS prevalence rates now stand at 7.3% from the previous 6.4%. The number of people living with HIV-AIDS and its related diseases is currently 1.6 million from 1.2 million. (Uganda HIV and AIDS Country Progress report, 2013).