Swaziland Response Paper

“I have spent the last four years watching people die.” In his 2005 Massey Lectures, Stephen Lewis, a Canadian politician and humanitarian, caught the attention of millions with these words. Within these lectures, he shared his experiences of watching Africans suffer through the AIDS pandemic, and critically examined how the neglect of global communities and their discrimination contributed to its failure to resolve. While the rest of the world seemed to be unresponsive to an AIDS-ravaged continent, Mr. Lewis found himself passionately involved in the crisis and began to take action. Since his involvement with the United Nations in 1984, Stephen Lewis has tirelessly advocated for African citizens affected by HIV and AIDS, ensured that health care and treatment is provided to victims, and reached out to African citizens with education and counseling through his organizations. Through all of this, Stephen Lewis has proven to be one of Canada’s most influential humanitarian advocates for impacting the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Africa.

FAC’s mandate to include AIDS projects in Africa and Asia. One of the board members

It is clear that South Africa’s changes in treatment and attitude of HIV/AIDS has moved the nation forward as a whole. Although there has been much progress made, “About 3.5 million South Africans still are not getting therapy, and many wait to long to come in to clinics or don’t stay on the drugs” (Lubock 17). Improvements on clinics will continue to be made throughout the country and the new “three-in-one” treatment tablet should prove effective within the next year for more modern and cost effective treatment and prevention for pregnant mothers. World AIDS Day has proved to be a powerful day for the future of South Africa as a nation.

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.

Swaziland lie on the fifth lowest place in the world on the index of life expectancy, according to the CIA World Fact Book, with expected life is on average 49,2 years. (3) The UN have in their MDG's informed that the goal is to reduce the number of child death before the age of 5 from 180/1000 children to 60/1000 children by 2015. In 2008, they where down to 129, meaning they are going in the right direction, but not fast enough. Swaziland is a part of the area which are referred to as Sub-Sahara Africa, having HIV/AIDS problems like no other area in the world.

On the flip side, this public fixation has led to a situation whereby AIDS and TB monopolise the funding pool at the expense of addressing other health areas. A look into the distribution of aid allocation within Botswana proves the case in point. In 2010, Botswana received more than 5 times the total amount of funding required for HIV/AIDS prevention. Its other health focus areas, by comparison, received little funding despite issues such as chronic and mental illnesses, as well as maternal healthcare, being the larger contributors to the overall disease burden within the

The flag of Malawi consists of three colors which are red, green, and black. The red represents the blood shed for the independence of Malawi, the green symbolizes the vegetation of Africa, and the black represents Africa and its people. The sun rising represents a new day of freedom and hope for the people of Africa.

For example, according to Kaiser Family Foundation, (2014), the target of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is to end the epidemic by 2030 and have 90% of the population know their HIV status and be treated to decrease the viral load. Additionally, the United States has provided funding through various initiatives such as the Leadership and Investment in Fighting an Epidemic (LIFE) in 1999 (which helped 14 countries in Africa), International Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative (2002), PEPFAR in 2003, which authorized approximately $15 billion and reauthorized for an additional 5 years in 2008 for up to $48 billion (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014). So far, global efforts have contributed to a significant decline (by 13.6 million) in AIDS-related death, stabilization of the epidemic, and access to treatment (ART; Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014). However, there are still many countries with only 20% receiving the treatment they

Swaziland’s debt mainly coming from the ostentatious king with an expensive taste spending the country’s money on flashy toys. King Mswati III is pathetic, much of the population is suffering from starvation and Mswati has spent millions of dollars on personal luxuries. The Kingdom of Swaziland has the world’s highest HIV-infected population, which does not seem to phase the king at all because little to no funding has been offered by the Swazi government to help the crisis (Policy Brief). The American president has much less power compared to the King. King Mswati has amnesty to do anything he wants, while in the United States our president has to be treated fairly, with only a few executive privileges. Our 44th and current president Barack Hussein Obama II is one to care about the people, recently proposing Obamacare to give healthcare to all. Obama and Mswati are opposites when it comes to the way the interact with the citizens, Obama being open and seen publicly often. Mswati on the other hand has been one to leave the country for weeks at a time on his private jet, likely to avoid his problems. Mswati is rarely seen publicly. Talking to your followers is the best way to resolve issues, gain support, and maintain a healthy following. Talking or making educated decisions and conversations is

This kind of tree grows very tall. The bark sheds, making the trees look white.

It was amazing. I learned all about the history of Swahili. Beginning in the 13th century, Swahili and the surrounding areas were ruled by the Shirazi dynasty until 1498 CE. During this time, the people of Portugal began their conquest of the area. During my arrival I had difficulty with the language. I’ve found the whole Swahili coast has its own language made of a combination of the Bantu descendants and Arabic trader’s native languages. When I was there trade was bustling. So many cultures mixed because there were merchants from China, India, Arabia, and Persia.

program, one would think that with Africa?s mortality and AIDS rate, they would have no

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).

Swaziland is a developing country that is facing many problems which can only be solved through political reform. Swaziland is located in south-eastern Africa and is the last country in Africa to still have an absolute monarchy. This country has a large health problem, including the highest rate of HIV in Africa. Swaziland’s monarch, King Mswati lll, holds all of the power. Swaziland’s economy is stagnant and its economic growth is steadily declining While the king lives a life of luxury, over fifty percent of the population of Swaziland live in poverty. Swaziland is also a landlocked country located in an area in which tropical storms are not uncommon. Swaziland is continuing to struggle as a developing country for these reasons.

In a typical Zambian farm family their life revolves around usually crop production, livestock and fishing. The men often times go out to do the work on the farm, as the women stay behind and care for the children, and elders. Many women sometimes also carry out sustenance farming. They also may rely on local crafts, such as basket weaving and pottery, for a source of income. A typical family in Zambia consists of about 7 people per household if men are the head of the family. However households that are led by women have about 5 people. However numbers can vary between households anywhere from 1-40 people. Another factor that is also normal in the everyday life of a Zambian is that most have between 1-3 orphans. It is not very common to get an education in Zambia either. In a survey that was previously done out of 4,471 children aged 6 to 18 years old roughly 21% have never even attended school. There are 3 different bisectors for school. It starts with primary school which is grade 1-7. Following that they move onto basic school which consists of grade 8-9. Lastly, there is secondary school from grades 10-12. Most areas in Zambia however don’t even have a secondary school. Higher education in Zambia has increased as the choices for private universities have dramatically gone up. There are 13 different universities in Zambia also various nursing schools. Households in Zambia are also drastically food insecure. Most Zambian diets consist of multiple cereals, predominately